Abstract

The aim of this article is to assess the knowledge, attitudes and environmental barriers, presented by people engaged in commercial activities of micro and small enterprises (MYPES) in the port city of La Libertad, El Salvador, regarding the Integral Management wastewater.

The entity responsible for the promotion and development of environmental sanitation programs, according to the municipal code, is the municipal administration, who are convinced that environmental education processes are fundamental for the development of their community and in the absence of a study of these characteristics, is that they recognize the importance of this research, so that it serves as a starting point for the integral management of wastewater

Surveys were applied to three fundamental strata, Politicians, MYPES and Technicians, as actors involved in the process. The surveys were validate by expert criteria. The use of statistical tools for the selection of the sample and comparison of the data was present. Once the information was obtain, it was systematize and organized into knowledge, attitudes, and barriers.

The results show that knowledge is incipient among the sample studied, so it should be deepened in these, since, although there are pro-environmental attitudes, the existence of conceptual, attitudinal and control barriers is having an impact on the awareness and empowerment for get to perform environmentally positive actions, starting from the competences of the strata analyzed.

Key words: Special waste water; attitudes; barriers; knowledge; competencies