Brazilian Sanitation Research Articles

Evaluation of The Polluting Potential of Effluents From Bakery Makers of RPA6 in the City of Recife, Pernambuco

Objective: Analyze the polluting potential of effluents from baking industries, from the Political Administrative Region VI (RPA6) of the city of Recife, Pernambuco. Literature Review: Information is presented on the diagnosis of basic sanitation in Brazil, the sanitation framework and the objectives of sustainable development, and the contextualization of the bakery industry and the generation of effluents. Method: A bibliographical survey was carried out, in addition to the application of a semi-structured questionnaire and the effluent generation capacity was estimated, based on the theoretical volume of effluents calculated from the average monthly water consumption. Monthly collections of pre- and post-treatment effluents in ETE with anaerobic filter, for a period of 150 days. The parameters temperature, pH, turbidity, oils and greases, BOD, COD, E. coli, settleable solids and DO were evaluated. The parameters Total Ammonia Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P) and Surfactant Removal (LAS) were also evaluated pre and post-treatment for a period of 90 days. Results and Discussion: The studied treatment plant is efficient in reducing organic load, in addition to oils and greases, reducing negative environmental impacts arising from these parameters. However, it is recommended to include a tertiary treatment stage to seek to improve Nitrogen and Phosphorus indicators. Research Implications: Emphasize the need to separate industrial effluents from sanitary effluents, and for bakeries to implement a treatment system. Originality/Value: Show the importance of taking into account that this type of enterprise generates a high volume of effluents, and treatment is important to mitigate impacts and improve the quality of the environment for society.

Environmental injustice in the privatization of Brazilian sanitation: an empirical analysis

This study analyzes whether the low rate of universalizing water supply and sanitation services in Brazil is related to the low participation of private companies in the concession of these services in municipalities in the country. To this end, it discusses basic sanitation in Brazil and its current scenario, its problems from the point of view of environmental injustice, and the existing public/private conflicts. The empirical analysis conducted a data survey of eight municipalities defined in four population groups, comparing data from 13 operational, efficiency, quality, and cost indicators of the services provided. Each population group compared two municipalities providing water and sewerage services, one provided by a public company and the other by a private company. The compared data were from 2021, obtained through the Brazilian National Sanitation Information System (SNIS). As a result of the comparative analyses, it was shown that the performance of public companies was more positive for most indicators, compared to private companies. It is concluded that the main challenge to overcome the social and environmental injustice resulting from the deficit in basic sanitation coverage lies in the promotion of public management instruments that enable the articulation of public and private investments in the expansion of basic sanitation services, in the improvement of the quality of services with the inclusion of social control through popular participation.

Pathogen Pollution: Viral Diseases Associated with Poor Sanitation in Brazil

Brazil faces many types of pollution, including atmospheric CO2 pollution due to Amazon deforestation, pollution by heavy metals, microplastics, pesticides, pathogens, and other classes of environmental contaminants. Pathogen pollution refers to (I) the introduction of a pathogen to a new host species or population and (II) a concept used in the study of pathogenic organisms in water or terrestrial ecosystems. Anthropogenic activities are the leading forces of pathogen pollution in both contexts previously cited. In this Opinion article, we discuss the impacts of pathogen pollution on public health, infectious diseases emergence, and ecosystems using mosquito- and water-borne viral diseases in Brazil as case studies. Finally, we advocate improvements and expansion in sanitation systems, considering sewage treatment and soil waste management, as an umbrella factor to minimize risks and spreading of pathogen pollution in Brazil.

Perception of the Employees of a State Company About Private Capital as a Solution to the Challenges of the New Legislative Framework of Sanitation

Purpose: To analyze the perception of the employees of the mixed economy company CASAN regarding the challenges related to the existence of a competitive market in the Brazilian sanitation sector and the preservation of a mostly public management. This article presents the perception of the employees of a Brazilian state mixed economy company regarding its position in a competitive market environment imposed by the new legislation. Remaining mostly public or betting on a greater introduction of private capital is a question answered by employees and which involves the company's ability to overcome the recent challenges in the sector, pressured by privatization movements. The methodology used was the mixed approach, with the case study method, which has considered the internal scenario of the state CASAN, with the participation of 345 employees classified into three functional categories on which the survey technique has been applied, taking as a tool the questionnaire, which is added to the bibliographic review technique. The investigation presents the advance of the phenomenon of privatization in the sector, which has impacted the mission of the state sanitation companies, demanding restructuring that does not deviate from their social and public mission, not associated with the eminent perspective on the profit from the perspective of employees. Theoretical framework: The article presents support in the specialized literature on the sanitation policy and market in Brazil, and on the position of the sanitation service as a human right. Method/design/approach: The survey technique was used, with the questionnaire tool applied to 345 employees of the target Company, compared with the bibliographic review. Results and conclusion: The State Basic Sanitation Companies (CESBs) were launched, especially after Federal Law No. 14,026/2020, to a competitive market, with the requirement of participation in bidding, without resolution of their social charges. However, the majority position of the employees is refractory to privatization or private control of the management of services to overcome the imposed challenges. Research implications: It presents managers and society with the importance of preserving public capital in sanitation management as a human right, and ways for CESBs to overcome the challenges of the sector based on the perception of employees. Originality/value: Expands the discussions related to the new legislative framework for sanitation in Brazil (Federal Law No. 14,026/2020) presenting implications that risk the existence of the CESBs and a solidarity management model, from the perspective of the employees of the Water and Sanitation Catarinense Company (CASAN) stratified between operational, administrative and bosses/directors employees.

Water and sanitation services in Brazil: evaluating the regulatory governance based on the institutional analysis and development framework

Abstract Brazilian's framework of water and sanitation services (WSS) is complex, with several actors from different legal natures and varied rules. The new Brazilian sanitation law aims to achieve universal access to WSS and effective provision of services, encouraging more efficiency by promoting competitiveness. However, the regulatory governance of the sector poses a challenge to achieve these objectives. This article addresses identifying and analyzing the WSS structures based on the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) Framework, which provides a multidimensional conceptual map that combines levels of macro and micro situations. Databases from the National Sanitation Information System (SNIS) and the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) were cross-referenced to evaluate the structures that exist in the provision of WSS, focusing on municipalities located in the metropolitan regions and urban agglomerations of Brazil. It is possible to conclude that the IAD Framework helps to clarify the actors, its functions, responsibilities, and the interactions between them, as well as the exogenous factors and how they influence the action arena, reaching recommendations, supported by a Delphi approach, such as to improve industry regulation in terms of governance and regulatory governance.

Safety index of individual basic sanitation systems in rural area

The safe access to water and sanitary sewer are human rights, and there is a lack of indexes which evidence if rural areas have safe access levels to these services and others which compose basic sanitation in Brazil. The goal of this work was to elaborate a safety index of rural sanitation at household level, and to apply it in three typologies of rural communities in the state of Goiás: rural settlements, quilombola and riparian communities. For such, the research was developed in five steps: 1) Choice of indicators and sub-indicators; 2) Definition of goals and hierarchical structure; 3) Attribution of due weight to the indicators and sub-indicators; 4) Formulation of the rural sanitation index (ISSRural); and 5) Evaluation of the safety level in 48 rural areas. The proposed ISSRural was composed of six indicators, of which four are associated to basic sanitation components, one is related to habitability conditions and one related to health issues. Four sanitation safe levels have been established, according to the ISSRural score level: Critical, unsafe, partially safe and safe, being that only the last one guarantees the existing sanitation services’ safety. Applying the index in 48 rural areas, none of the communities have reached the “safe” level for the ISSRural and only three areas have reached such level for at least one indicator, which was Rainwater Management. This work proposed an index which has evidenced the safety levels associated to basic sanitation in rural areas, from data at household level, and can be applied with the goal of prioritizing investments, plans and projects which may have greater impact in the population’s sanitation safety, as well as contributing to ensure the human right of access to water and sanitary sewer.

To sanitize is to eugenize: the "preventive" eugenics of Belisário Penna at the service of sanitation in Brazil, 1920-1930.

The purpose of this article is to discuss the eugenics model used by the medical-sanitarist Belisário Penna during the sanitation campaign in Brazil in the 1920s and 1930s. The article addresses two fundamental concepts for his thinking: "Brazilian race" and "preventive" eugenics. The way in which Penna saw the Brazilian racial issue was fundamental to adhere to the eugenic conception combined with social medicine and its project of "health awareness." The text offers a perspective of how Penna's eugenics was conceived and the dialogue established with the Brazilian eugenic movement, especially with the eugenicist Renato Kehl. Thus, the defense of an eugenics classified as "preventive" established a coherence for a social reform project through the sanitation defended by Penna.

Study of the correlation between Covid-19 cases and deaths and basic sanitation in Brazil: Is this a possible secondary route of virus transmission?

People with COVID-19 may excrete viable SARS-CoV-2 virus through urine and faeces, which has raised concerns about the possibility of transmission of COVID-19 via water contaminated or sewage. These concerns are especially exacerbated in underdeveloped countries like Brazil, where untreated sewage is usually discharged to surface water or soil. Because of that, a hypothesis emerged that was addressed in this study, which seeks to understand whether access to basic sanitation services can influence the proliferation of the virus. A correlation study was carried out between the cases of COVID-19 and the indicators of basic sanitation from all regions of Brazil. The results showed that there was a correlation only with the water supply indicator. A hypothesis that would explain the presented correlation would be the inefficiency of the water treatment systems in Brazil, not totally inactivating the virus, or possible contamination of the water distribution networks by sanitary sewage. In general, the data presented reinforce the need to expand and monitor basic sanitation services, especially to ensure the effective and efficient disinfection of drinking water. This monitoring could be useful for early warning surveillance of the spread of the virus.

The National Rural Water and Sanitation Project (1985-1989) in Brazil: limits and potentials

In this article, the principles of the National Rural Water and Sanitation Project (PNSR), elaborated during the 1980s, are analyzed, discussing the advances and the limits reached in the development of rural water supply and sanitation in Brazil. The methodology used was an analysis of the content of documents and interviews with key actors. The results have demonstrated that the formulation of the PNSR promoted a new contribution of knowledge to the water and sanitation sector in Brazil, bringing innovations concerning the approach to water and basic sanitation in rural areas, especially relating to its integration with health, the processes of education and social participation, the decentralization of services, the use of appropriate technologies and community involvement in the management of services. Although it did not result in a government program, the legacy left by the PNSR has provided a great contribution in the form of studies, which are still relevant today.

Rural Sanitation: Scenarios and Public Policies for the Brazilian Semi-Arid Region

Brazil’s primary sanitation sector has been neglected, especially concerning rural sanitation. Population dispersion and the difficulty of access in many rural communities bring more significant challenges to the universalization of the service and, consequently, vulnerabilities for the population. The present work builds a theoretical framework about the context of rural sanitation in Brazil, with history, weaknesses in the sector, the impact of COVID-19 and new technologies, and central public policies in the State of Pernambuco. It is known that COVID-19 has caused considerable challenges that, added to the obstacles to national sanitation, result in greater vulnerability to the population, especially for indigenous peoples, quilombolas, and diffuse rural communities. In the State of Pernambuco, certain policies, such as the One Million Rural Cisterns Program (P1MC), One Land and Two Waters Program (P1 + 2), Água Doce Program and Operação Pipa Program, significantly improved the quality of life of the rural population. However, these measures are not enough to remedy the sector’s shortcomings. Although alternative sanitation technologies bring hope to the sector, there is a long way to go towards the universalization of sanitation.

Mobile Health Technologies Are Essential for Reimagining the Future of Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene.

The new Lancet Commission on water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) hopes to reimagine and guide global WASH efforts. This comes at a time when unequal living conditions and global disparities in response and recovery have been highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic and recent large impact trials have delivered mostly disappointing results suggesting the need for radically more effective interventions to improve global public health. We find ourselves at an inflection point in global WASH with an opportunity to build new approaches with potentially more equitable, cost-effective, and scalable solutions. Mobile health (mHealth) technology is an important and innovative tool for WASH advances. Yet, the use of mHealth has not been equally distributed in terms of its benefits nor is its impact guaranteed. In resource-constrained settings, where technology can increase inequalities, special attention should be paid to structural and systemic hierarchies during the development of mHealth programs along with the acknowledgment and understanding how these systems can reinforce the systematic exclusion of those most vulnerable. The WASH sector needs to adapt to a future that is innovative and inclusive with a commitment to rethinking the resources needed to enhance scope and impact. We highlight urban sanitation in Brazil as a case study to demonstrate that mHealth can support and enhance publicly funded infrastructure and to help reimagine WASH for postpandemic and beyond.

The Private Sector as a Partner for SDG 6-Related Issues in Megacities: Opportunities and Challenges in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

This article reviews recent studies that address water sustainable management opportunities and challenges in megacities around the world, with an emphasis on the case of Rio de Janeiro Metropolitan Region, one of the two megacities in Brazil. With reference to recent debates on water, megacities, and the climate crisis, as well as UN Water and Global Report Initiative documents, we focused on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda Sustainable Development Goal 6: Clean Water and Sanitation for All. The new Brazilian sanitation legal framework regulates public–private partnerships. In this context, the manuscript discusses the main question concerning water, sanitation, and hygiene that arises in the Brazilian case study: is universality possible in profit-oriented models? Through the current technical and academic literature consulted, the paper compares initiatives involving multiple stakeholder governance models that depend on private resources to implement universal access to drinking water, sanitation, and water-related extreme event controls, pointing out alternatives that can help to achieve the targets of SDG. Validation by key informants supports the synthesis of the reviewed documents, and the findings illustrate that concerted public efforts together with market mechanisms can help to overcome challenges and surpass the profit-oriented logics of private companies to achieve access to healthy and safe water, adequate sanitation, and improved hygiene, especially for vulnerable populations. This finding has transferability to other megacities in emerging countries that are facing public–private partnership debates on the provision of clean water and sanitation for all.

Path to basic sanitation in Brazil: granting services to the private sector

Path to basic sanitation in Brazil: granting services to the private sector

Path to basic sanitation in Brazil: granting services to the private sector

Path to basic sanitation in Brazil: granting services to the private sector

Comparison of commercial disinfectants and an in loco-produced solution: free residual chlorine decay in human supply waters

Abstract The disinfection process is used in the treatment of water for human supply to promote sanitary safety and provide users with drinking water that meets potability standards. Thus, it is necessary to sustain a minimal concentration of free residual chlorine (FRC) throughout the entire distribution system. The present study investigated the decay process of FRC concentration in water destined for human supply. The decay was evaluated in bench-scale testing, using sodium hypochlorite, calcium hypochlorite, sodium dichloroisocyanurate (organic chlorine) as disinfectant agents, and also an alternative disinfectant solution (ADS) produced in loco, with oxidizing and disinfectant properties, which is being used in Brazilian sanitation industry. To evaluate the decay, four models were fitted: first-order, nth-order, limited first-order and parallel first-order, hence determining the corresponding parameters which describe the decay speed of the FRC concentration in water. Achieved results demonstrated that all models were statistically significant and predictive. However, the parallel first-order model produced the best fit. Regarding the evaluated disinfectants, there was preeminence of the ADS solution when compared to the others, since it imparted a higher FRC over time, a behavior indicated by lower values for reaction rate constant in all models and when compared to other disinfectants used in this study.

Measuring functions and structure of environmental attitudes from environmental educators in public sanitation (Medición de las funciones y la estructura de las actitudes ambientales de los educadores ambientales en el ámbito del saneamiento público)

Environmental education towards sanitation can be effective to promote water conservation in a cycle of use framework. Considering attitudes as main determinants of pro-environmental behaviour and the need to expand knowledge from an educator’s point of view, this research aimed to comprehend the relations between environmental education and the development of environmental attitudes from sanitation workers. Group differences in activity execution and age were investigated. A mixed-method research design was conducted in a Brazilian sanitation company, CASAN, in two phases. In phase 1, 119 workers from treatment plants where environmental education is performed were submitted a sociodemographic questionnaire and the Environmental Attitudes Inventory. Data submitted to descriptive and comparative analyses indicated higher levels for preservation and general environmental attitudes for younger workers. In phase 2, 19 environmental educators were interviewed and their data submitted to content analysis to verify attitude functions. Participants confirmed the importance of performing activities for environmental attitudes development; institutional determinants were discussed, considering workers’ role in the promotion of natural resources conservation and adequate sanitation.

The efficiency of the economic septic tank in the treatment of domestic wastewater and black water in rural areas

Wastewater treatment in rural areas is important to prevent the pollution of aquatic environments and to protect the health of the population. Centralized treatment systems present a high cost, making the use of decentralized systems attractive. The use of septic tanks for on-site treatment of residential (single-family) is an attractive alternative within the context of Brazilian sanitation. Thus, the main objective of this study was to analyze the efficiency of the Economic Septic Tank in the treatment of wastewater of two residences located in a rural area. Two systems were installed: the first treat sanitary wastewater of a residence with three residents (A) and the second treat only the water from the toilet of a residence with five residents (B) (Black Water). For both systems, A and B, removal efficiencies were obtained in relation to total suspended solid (75%), biochemical oxygen demand (58 and 55%), and chemical oxygen demand (61 and 60%), respectively. Removal efficiencies were close, indicating that the system works satisfactorily in both systems, considering values indicated in the literature.

Inflated Kumaraswamy regressions with application to water supply and sanitation in Brazil

Models based on the Kumaraswamy law are used with variables that assume values in (0, 1). In some cases, however, the data contain zeros and/or ones, that is, there is data inflation. We introduce a class of regression models that can be used with such inflated data, namely: the class of inflated Kumaraswamy regression models. We consider inflation at zero, at one, and at both zero and one. We introduce the model and provide closed‐form expressions for its score vector and Fisher's information matrix. The proposed model is used to evaluate the impacts of different conditioning variables on the proportion of people who live in households with inadequate water supply and sewage in Brazilian municipalities. Our results reveal that policies directed to increasing the population share with college education in places where it is low are particularly effective in reducing the prevalence of people who live under inadequate sanitation conditions.

O-DGT Devices for the Determination of Emerging Contaminants in Aqueous Matrices

Samplers based on the diffusive gradients in thin films for organics (o-DGT) were developed and applied in Brazilian aqueous matrices for the determination of four emerging contaminants (EC): 4-octylphenol, 4-nonylphenol, triclosan, and bisphenol A. The OASIS HLB resin used as the binding phase presented a high sorption capacity and the extraction associated with sonication, using a mixture of acetonitrile and methanol (2:1, v v-1) as the solvent, provided a higher desorbed mass of the compounds. The diffusion coefficients determined experimentally were in the range of the values found in the literature and the pH and ionic strength influenced the sorption of some compounds by the binding phase. The substances were detected and quantified in tap and river water samples after 7 days of deployment using gas chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS). Finally, the results indicate deficiencies in the current wastewater, as well as water treatment systems, and could contribute in the future to the improvement of public policies on basic sanitation in Brazil.

Regionalization of characterization factor in Brazil: freshwater eutrophication category

Brazil is privileged to have the most important natural resource in its territory, the water. But currently, the increased concentration of phosphorus (P) affects the water quality. It has two main routes to get into aquatic environmental: through the dump of untreated sewage and fertilizers runoff. The P excess may promote eutrophication, a process characterized by microalgae uncontrolled growth, affecting several parameters of freshwater. Due to the great differences at the Brazilian regions, the current Life Cycle Impact Assessment methodologies are not capable to evaluate properly the eutrophication impact in Brazil. The most viable method to obtain a more suitable model is regionalizing it by estimating the characterization factor (CF). Therefore this is the first study that presents a regionalized model to estimate Brazilian CF for freshwater eutrophication. The regionalization was based on the models proposed by Helmes et al. (2012) and Azevedo et al. (2013), which are considered the most complete and suitable models. Due to the lack of data it was possible to calculate the CF for Alto Iguaçu micro watershed and four more subwatersheds: Paraíba do Sul, Parnaíba, Litorânea do Ceará and Litorânea Pernambuco Alagoas. The processes assessment of advection, retention and water use provides valuable information of each region and also results in more realistic Fate Facto (FF), since Brazilian sanitation is completely uneven, and the sewage treatment must be modelled to not overestimated or sub estimated the FF. At Alto Iguaçu is the advection rate is the most relevant and its CF is 7.43 103. m3 .KgP-1 day. For that reason, the same amount of emitted phosphorus promotes a bigger eutrophication potential at Paraíba do Sul and Parnaíba than other basins. Phosphorus income rates estimate is possible to know the origin of its most significant input. Based on this information, financial resources can be better used. This was the first attempt to develop a Brazilian CF and some improvements need to be done. Firstly, new studies ought to concentrate to promote good quality of data, because the unavailability of data was one of the greatest difficulties of this study. Then the regionalized model should be improved modeling treatment of industrial sewage and, finally, CF needs to be calculated for all subwatershed.
 Keywords: Eutrophication. Characterization factor. Freshwater. Brazil. Life Cycle Impact Assessment.