Sanitation drives sustainable development and improves life in municipalities throughout Brazil. Disclosure Six years after the approval of the Basic Sanitation Legal Framework, Brazil increased investments in the sector and advanced in structuring concessions, privatizations and regionalization projects. Despite this, the pace is still insufficient to guarantee the universalization of services by 2033, the target set out in the legislation. A survey by Instituto Trata Brasil in partnership with GO Associados shows that the average annual investment per inhabitant grew 51% between 2020 and 2024, going from R$90.54 to R$137.02. The value, however, remains far from the approximately R$225 per inhabitant per year estimated by the National Basic Sanitation Plan (Plansab) as necessary to achieve universalization goals. ?? The law establishes that, by 2033, 99% of the Brazilian population will have access to drinking water and 90% to sewage collection and treatment. ? Today, the country is still far from this scenario. According to the data used by the study, 15.9% of Brazilians still do not have access to drinking water and 43.3% do not have sewage collection. In practice, this represents tens of millions of people without access to basic sanitation services.
Investment in sanitation grows 51% but remains below what is necessary to comply with the Legal Framework, says study
Sanitation drives sustainable development and improves life in municipalities throughout Brazil. Disclosure Six years after the approval of the Basic Sanitation Legal Framework, Brazil increased investments in the...
The study points out that: Investments in sanitation totaled R$112.6 billion between 2020 and 2024. Investment per inhabitant grew 51% in the period, reaching R$137.02 in 2024. The amount considered necessary to meet the goals of the Legal Framework is around R$225 per inhabitant per year. The sector needs to maintain investments close to R$48 billion annually until 2033. There is still approximately R$431 billion in investments to universalize services. "The challenge of universalization remains enormous. We will need to maintain a rate of R$48 billion in investments per year — something still unprecedented", says Luana Pretto, executive president of Instituto Trata Brasil. Advances since the creation of the Legal Framework Sanctioned in July 2020, the Sanitation Legal Framework was created to expand investments in the sector, encourage the participation of the private sector, strengthen regulation and accelerate the universalization of services. According to the study, the main effect observed in the last six years was the expansion of structured projects. The contracts already signed have the potential to benefit more than 100 million people distributed across 2,460 municipalities. Furthermore, there are projects in preparation with a forecast of R$58.4 billion in additional investments, which could serve an additional 18 million inhabitants in 625 municipalities. Houses on the banks of the canal in Macapá - Saneamento João Pantoja/Rede Amazônica In total, the projects under execution or contracted generate more than R$420 billion in planned investments. The study cites as examples concession and privatization processes carried out or structured after the new framework, including projects in states such as São Paulo, Pará, Sergipe, Paraíba and Rondônia. Regulatory bottleneck Despite financial advances, researchers highlight that an important part of the obstacles lies in governance and regulation. According to the survey, around 20 million Brazilians live in 963 municipalities that do not yet have a regulatory agency registered with the National Water and Basic Sanitation Agency (ANA). Initiative by the company Aegea boosts basic sanitation in Rio de Janeiro. Disclosure The problem is not limited to the lack of registration. Among the registered entities, only 29 agencies demonstrated full adherence to the ANA reference standards. Together, they serve 2,809 municipalities and around 92 million inhabitants — equivalent to 43% of the Brazilian population. In the authors' assessment, this scenario can make it difficult to monitor contracts and reduce the legal certainty necessary to attract long-term investments. Regional inequality remains The study also shows that investments continue to be concentrated in some regions. Boa Vista has the second best basic sanitation among capitals in the North, according to a study by Yasmim Trindade/Caer. The Southeast has received more than half of the resources applied since 2020, driven mainly by São Paulo. The North Region, which has some of the worst service indicators in the country, received only R$5.3 billion in the period analyzed. According to the researchers, the difference helps to explain why sanitation indicators continue to advance at different speeds between Brazilian regions. What is needed to achieve the goals? In the assessment of Instituto Trata Brasil, the country has made progress in creating projects and attracting investments, but the next few years will be decisive in transforming contracts into works and effectively expanding access to the population. To meet the goals until 2033, the study highlights the following priorities: maintaining investment growth; strengthening regulatory agencies; expanding adherence to ANA standards; advancement of regionalization of services; execution of projects already contracted. Six years after the approval of the Legal Framework, the researchers' conclusion is that the sector has made progress, but still needs to significantly accelerate the pace so that the universalization of services becomes a reality within the deadline set by law.
