A saúde ambiental e as condições de balneabilidade de uma região do Médio Rio Doce – MG.

The water collections in the middle Doce‘s River are under increasing intervention of human action, due to urban growth associated with the exploitative practices of monoculture, breeding and extraction without environmental control measures and health. The ponds, Silvana, Nova, and Vermelha within the limits of the city of Detroit and the lakes of Pau and Silver in the municipality of Santana do Paraiso and the watershed of the stream Ipanema Ipatinga, are the universe of studies of this work. Research coliform bacteria, some physicochemical parameters such as pH, turbidity, conductivity, temperature, dissolved oxygen, electrochemical potential and a survey of the macrofauna were the strategies used to diagnose the environmental health of various bodies of water. The samples of water and sediment carried in accordance with the standard proposed by NBR 9898/1987 - ABNT, APHA, 2005. The use of a rapid assessment protocol (RAP) of snippets facilitated the assessment of lotic studied and served as a pedagogical tool in the integration of students from the technical environment course of the technical school Juscelino Kubitschek in the context of local reality. All the ponds studied presented signs of human intervention. The Vermelha pond and Pau are under worrying levels of sedimentation and eutrophication, respectively. In Ipanema stream, the organization of macroinvertebrate guild functional corroborated with the results obtained from the evaluation of snippets, which revealed the lack of riparian vegetation as one of the most relevant in the watershed. The distribution, abundance and taxonomic richness of macroinvertebrates were important in the detection of some impacts. The family Chironomidae and Glossiphoniidae associated with physical-chemical and microbiological tests were crucial in the diagnosis of impact on lentic environments. The presence of molluscs of the genus Biomphalaria, known by the transmission of schistosomiasis were found in ponds of Pau and Prata. The species Melanoides tuberculata (Muller, 1774) is numerically significant in the whole lake system studied. It is therefore worrying, as this exotic species with broad distribution in Brazil threatens the fauna of molluscs and crustaceans native of benthic communities where they settle (Ramos, 2008), besides they can be carriers of cercariae and other trematodes ( Bogea et al, 2005). High values of conductivity, turbidity, potential electrochemical equilibrium and especially the presence of Escherichia coli, revealed the conditions found at the stream before the requirements of the resolutions of CONAMA n o 357, 2005, no. 274, 2000, no. 020 1986 and municipal law no. 1535/97. The evaluation of the conditions of these balneability water bodies, often used in recreational, fishing activities and school practices, found severe impacts on water bodies, mainly urban. Interdisciplinary students who associated multiplier of scientific knowledge by promoting the connection of research and society, is certainly a powerful tool for mobilizing and strengthening the socio-environmental policy.