Brazil’s sanitation coverage increases slightly

The proportion of Brazilian households with sewage collection services increased slightly to 69.5 percent in 2022, compared with 68.2 percent in 2019, the national statistics agency IBGE reported on Friday. The largest increases were in the North and Northeast, the country’s poorest regions.

For the first time, over 50 percent of households in the Northeast have access to sewage services. In the North, where most of the Amazon rainforest is, that proportion is only 31 percent.

IBGE researcher Gustavo Geaquinto said in a statement that “although there was a small increase in sewage services during the period, a large number of households in the country still do not have access to it.”

He added, “Furthermore, in 2022, 14.1 percent of households resorted to rudimentary septic tanks or other inappropriate ways of releasing sewage, such as directly into ditches, rivers or the sea, which poses risks to human health and the environment.”

Out of Brazil’s 64.8 million urban households, 99.5 percent had piped water and 78 percent were connected to sewage collection services.

The 2020 Framework for Sanitation Act stipulates that running water must reach 99 percent of the population by 2033. Sewage collection and treatment services must reach 90 percent by the same year. Last year, industry association Abcon Sindcon estimated that it would cost BRL 893 billion (USD 185 billion) to meet these targets.

Back in April, the Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva administration enacted a decree changing the rules of the Sanitation Act, to tilt the scales in favor of state-owned companies. The House approved a motion to strike down the decree, but no action has yet been taken in the Senate.

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