Perception of environmental quality of nearby localities to the Petrochemical Complex of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

This article aims to verify the residents’ perception difference on the environmental quality of two localities near the construction area of the Petrochemical Complex of Rio de Janeiro. Nine environmental quality aspects (water supply services, sewage and garbage collection; leisure areas; public security; health services; streets; air; rivers) were evaluated. Cross-sectional study conducted with 240 residents of the Porto das Caixas and Manilha, both of them located in Itaboraí city, RJ state, Brazil. The statistical analysis involved the chi-square test and Fisher ́s exact test. Leisure Area was the factor perceived also by participants of both locations of the study with worse quality. The quality perception of health services, security and sanitation differed significantly among the inhabitants of the two studied localities. The worsening of environmental quality was related by 51% of the residents of Porto das Caixas to the absence of mitigatory measures after the occurrence of a local chemical accident in 2005. The prioritization of interventions should be based on the perception of specific population groups such as strategy that can allow a reduction of environmental health inequities in installation and construction contexts of the oil and gas industries.