33% of Brazilians have no access to sewage treatment network

On average, 33% of Brazil’s population does not have direct access to a sewage treatment network, underscoring challenges in basic sanitation.

In 2018, 66.3% of the population had access to a sewage treatment network, almost unchanged from 66% in 2017, according to statistics bureau IBGE.

The numbers come as the government is facing severe fiscal restrictions, after multiple years of economic recession, which damaged investments in areas such as sanitation.

In Brazil’s southeast, 88.6% of residents had sanitation services last year. In the country’s poorest regions in e north and northeast, however, coverage reached only 21.8% and 44.6%, respectively.

Congress is debating measures to encourage private sector investments to compensate the lack of federal and local government investment.

GARBAGE COLLECTION

Meanwhile, around 20.1mn Brazilians, don‘t have their garbage collected.

In 2018, 83% of citizens had access to direct garbage collection and 8.1% had their garbage picked up from a cleaning service, while 8.9% burned or retained garbage on their properties, according to IBGE figures.

Lack of garbage services affects most citizens, 10.5mn, in the northeast.

According to experts, the high number of people with no adequate sanitation services and garbage collection also impacts public finances as it leads to higher health expenses for treating diseases linked to lack of adequate sanitation infrastructure.