Wastewater management evaluation in rural areas. A case study: Galicia, Spain

Ano: 2009 | Volume: 1 | Número: 0

Palavras-chave: Wastewater management, sustainability, farms, opinion survey, field work.

Resumo Inglês:

The Water Framework Directive (WFD) of the European Commission considers water supply and sanitation on agricultural and forestry holdings as a part of water management policy. In this sense, this study analyses the current situation in Galicia, European Union, in terms of the management of wastes derived from dairying, and the attitudes of farmers toward this issue and government regulations. The study was carried out by conducting a field survey to 4384 farm owners. The farms were classified according to the income level (size) and the priority status of the farm, and the current situation was defined based on the results obtained from the survey. The most positive aspect revealed by the survey is the willingness of farmers to improve wastewater management, which is a meaningful data because 72% of the farmers declared to use some system for wastewater collection or treatment.