Agrotoxic in Drinking Water: Considerations about the Municipalities of the Hydrographic Basin of Itabapoana River

Considerações sobre os Municípios da Bacia Hidrográfica do rio Itabapoana

Abstract

The Brazilian agricultural sector, supported mainly on the production of commodities for export, has the intensive use of pesticide as one of its pillars. The intensive use of pesticides is often associated to a myriad of environmental problems and to several impacts on human health. Based on a research recently published that identified the presence of 27 pesticides in drinking water samples from municipalities located in different parts of Brazil, we mapped the contamination of drinking water in the 18 municipalities of the Itabapoana River Basin. In addition, we present an overview of the main crops grown in the Itabapoana River Basin. Based on this overview, we identified crops that make intensive use of pesticides, such as coffee, corn, sugar cane, tomatoes, orange and pineapple. Additionally, we also identified that in the past 40 years, more than two thousand people have been intoxicated in the Itabapoana River Basin. The presence of pesticides in water for human consumption in five municipalities in the Itabapoana Basin suggests that the municipalities inside this region lack public policies and technological investments aimed at the modernization and sustainability of production processes.