Abstract
Abstract This article seeks to understand the circumstances that culminated in the formulation and implementation of the National Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project (PNSR) in the 1980s, using the Multiple Streams Model as its theoretical reference. The results show that the theme’s ascension to the government agenda stemmed from a conjuncture marked by intense transitions that contributed to opening a policy window. The struggle to guarantee social rights in the Brazilian re-democratization process; the activities of social movements like the grassroots public health movement; the large sanitary deficit and its consequences for public health; the joint involvement of institutions with considerable expertise like Economic and Social Planning Institute (IPEA), Public Health Special Service Foundation (FSESP) and Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) and the availability of financial resources stemming from a partnership arrangement with the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) provided a favorable environment for the elaboration of the PNSR.
Highlights
In Brazil, water supply and basic sanitation in rural areas have not been the object of systematic, permanent actions on the part of the public authorities
Rural inhabitants’ poor level of access to basic water supply and sanitation services, the high incidence of parasite-related diseases and infectious diseases among them and the mass migration of the rural populations to the big cities can readily be identified as national outstanding problems that were associated to the formulation of the PNSR
Planasa came to represent a milestone in the area of water supply and sanitation in Brazil because of the actions undertaken coupled with the broad economic investments
Summary
In Brazil, water supply and basic sanitation in rural areas have not been the object of systematic, permanent actions on the part of the public authorities. There has been a historical demand to have basic water supply and sanitation for rural areas included on the government agenda. Urban centers have been prioritized in water supply and sanitation actions (Rezende & Heller, 2008), contributing to the creation and maintenance of a considerable deficit of such services in rural areas. The present situation of water supply and sanitation in rural areas clearly shows how incipient the respective sector policies are and the great need for intensifying actions and investments in those areas. The 2010 Brazilian Demographic Census (Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística [IBGE], 2011) showed that 37% of households in rural areas did not have internal piped water supply, 64% discharged domestic wastewater into rudimentary septic tanks and 11% discharged it directly into the environment
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