Maringá (PR) has the best sanitation in Brazil, and capitals in the North, the worst; see ranking – 03/20/2024 – Market

While capitals in the North region have the worst basic sanitation rates in Brazil, the city of Maringá (PR) has the best. This is what the 2024 Sanitation Ranking points out, a publication by Instituto Trata Brasil that annually analyzes indicators from the one hundred largest Brazilian cities.

According to the study, around 32 million people do not have access to drinking water in Brazil and 90 million are not connected to the sewage network, “reflecting health problems for the population that suffers daily, hospitalized for water-borne diseases.”

The ranking was made based on data from the 2022 National Sanitation Information System, the most recent, published by the Ministry of Cities — that is, with information collected two years after the approval of the Sanitation Legal Framework in the Jair Bolsonaro government (PL ).

The worst rates are those for sewage collection and treatment. According to Trata Brasil, more than 5,200 Olympic-sized swimming pools of sewage are dumped daily into nature without treatment.

“Sewage treatment is the indicator that is furthest from universalization in cities, proving to be the main bottleneck to be overcome. We have less than ten years to fulfill the commitment to universal sanitation that the country has made to its citizens” , says Luana Siewert Pretto, president of the organization.

“This year, with municipal elections, it is necessary to bring sanitation to the center of discussions.”

The city with the best sanitation in Brazil, according to the institute, is Maringá, with 99.99% of the population having access to the water network, 99.99% served by sewage collection and 100% of this sewage treated. The city invests an average of R$57.21 per inhabitant in sanitation.

According to the Sanitation Legal Framework, cities with 99% of the population with access to treated water and 90% with sewage collection and treatment are considered universal.

The highest rated capital in the ranking was São Paulo, with 99.29% of the population having access to drinking water, 97.31% connected to the sewage network and 73.08% of treated sewage. The city has an investment of R$219.20 in sanitation per capita.

According to Trata Brasil, there is “a correlation between the volume of investments and advances in basic sanitation indicators”.

The 20 municipalities that appear best ranked had an average annual investment of R$201.47 per capita. The 20 worst countries invested an average of R$73.85 per inhabitant, a difference of 173%.

Maringá, however, champion of the year, invests only R$57.21 per resident in sanitation. According to the publication, cities that already have advanced development indicators or universalized systems “may present values ​​below the national average, without compromising meeting the goals.”

At the end of the list is Várzea Grande (MT), in Greater Cuiabá, which invests just R$25.91 per resident.

For cities with the worst sanitation, “because they have indicators that are very behind and far from universalization, having a low average annual investment per inhabitant results in great difficulty in achieving the established goals.”

On average, large cities invest R$138.68 per inhabitant. The National Basic Sanitation Plan establishes that an investment of R$231.09 per inhabitant is necessary. Only ten cities invest above this, while 42 spend less than R$100 per resident.

At the top of the list are large amounts, such as Praia Grande (R$ 693), on the coast of São Paulo, Santo André (R$ ​​628.07), Cuiabá (R$ 472.42) and Aparecida de Goiânia (R$ 463.28) .

The high values ​​are explained by recent major infrastructure works. Praia Grande, for example, says it invested R$120 million in works under the Onda Limpa Program to implement sewage collection and treatment systems in order to clean up its beaches.

Santo André also received significant investments after Sabesp took over the service in the city, in 2019.

Sabesp (Basic Sanitation Company of the State of São Paulo) serves 19 cities out of the 100 largest in the country, according to the ranking, four of them on the list of the 15 best. The company should be privatized later this year by the Tarcísio de Freitas (Republican) government.

Gesner Oliveira, from GO Associados, which also prepares the ranking, points out that “the sector is beginning to react and observe improvements in some indicators, especially in municipalities where auctions have recently taken place”.

“However, progress is still timid and if we want to achieve universalization in a timely manner by 2033, it is necessary for the annual investment to more than double, going from R$22 billion per year to almost R$47 billion per year”, he says .

Of the five cities with the best sanitation in the country according to the ranking, only one has the service operated by a private company, Limeira, with BRK.

The ranking points out that 22 of the 100 largest municipalities in the country have 100% of the population with full water service, and another 18 cities have 99% of the population covered, which fits the concept of universalization according to the Sanitation Legal Framework. Of the total of 27 Brazilian capitals, only 9 have a supply above 99%.

The five large cities with the worst access to drinking water are in the North region: Porto Velho, with only 41.79% of the population; Ananindeua (PA), with 42.75%; Santarém (PA), with 48.8%; Rio Branco, with 53.5% and Macapá, with 54.38%. Three of them are capitals.

Regarding the sewage network, only five cities have 100% collection: Belo Horizonte and the São Paulo cities of Santo André, Piracicaba, Mauá and Bauru. Another 35 cities have a rate above 90%, which also meets the Legal Framework criteria for universalization.

Furthermore, six cities have 100% treated sewage and another 23 have a rate above 80%, which places them within the universalization criteria. The average sewage treatment rate among the one hundred largest cities is 65.55%, while the Brazilian average is 52.23%.

São João do Meriti (RJ) has the worst rate, with none of the sewage treated. Other cities in Baixada Fluminense also appear among the worst on the list, such as Duque de Caxias and Belford Roxo.

It is in the North region where the worst capitals in terms of sewage are located. In Porto Velho and Macapá, less than 10% of the population has collection. In the capital of Rondônia, only 1.71% of sewage is treated. In Belém, where almost 20% of the population is connected to the network, only 2.38% of waste is treated. In Rio Branco, 0.72%.

Another indicator evaluated in the Trata Brasil ranking was losses in water distribution, measured by the ratio between water produced and water actually consumed in homes.

On average, 35.04% of water produced in the country’s largest cities was lost in distribution, an improvement compared to 36.51% the previous year. Only 14 cities had losses below 25%, a value considered adequate by the institute. In another 20 cities, the loss exceeds 50%.