Usos y percepción de problemas en el balneario municipal de la ciudad de Azul, provincia de Buenos Aires

Abstract

The Azul River, which crosses the Azul City (60.000 inhabitants), forms an artificial pond of about 7ha. used as a recreational and landscaping resource that is often being evaluated by the community and local authorities from its environmental and sanitary viewpoints. In order to contribute for generating management guidelines, a perception study over a sample of the population (N=1388) was carried out aimed at assessing the intensity of use as well as the existence and level of importance of environmental problems. The relationship between uses and problems was evaluated by means of the contingency coefficient. 58% of the interviewed people declared not to use the recreational resort. The remainder mentioned uses without direct contact with the water (long walks 41%), or other entertaining activities (34%), whereas bathing (26%) and fishing (20%) represent those which imply contact with the water, all of them during summertime. The use during winter is quite limited (14%). The environmental problems perceived as most important are the water quality degradation from garbage along the banks and in the water body, the water turbidity, and mud on the river bed. On the other hand, the sanitary quality of the water was selected as a problem of certain degree of risk for those activities that implied a direct contact with the water. It may be concluded that there exists a negative perception on the water quality, related to aesthetic and organoleptic criteria. Such facts allow putting forward actions of broader impact aimed at improving the quality of the site and attracting new users.