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Brazil Sanitation and Public Utilities
Sanitation and Public Utilities
The National Sanitation Plan (Plano Nacional de Saneamento--Planasa)
of the 1970s did not keep pace with rapid urbanization in the development
of safe drinking water supplies and waste disposal systems, particularly
evident in the precarious metropolitan peripheries and favelas.
Between 1988 and 1993, 87 percent had access to piped water and
72 percent to sewerage and waste disposal services, yet a 1989 study
by the IBGE (Brazilian
Geography and Statistics Institute) revealed that 92 percent
of the municipalities did not treat domestic wastewater and only
27.6 percent of dwellings in a Northeast metropolis were linked
to a sewerage system that passed quality standards.
The rural
population receives far fewer water and sanitation services
than its urban counterparts. Ninety-five percent of those in urban
areas had adequate water supply during the 1988-93 period, as compared
with 61 percent of rural dwellers; the levels for disposal systems
were 84 percent and 32 percent, respectively (the rural figures
refer to wells and privies, not service). To a certain extent, the
urban-rural incongruity in the provision of environmental sanitation
accounts for the higher percentage of deaths from diarrheal diseases
in the rural North and Northeast than in the urban areas. The lack
or deficiency of basic sanitation services has been associated with
the persistence of diarrhea as well as outbreaks of contagious diseases,
including cholera.
Data as of April 1997
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