Implicações do novo marco legal do saneamento para as regiões de maior vulnerabilidade socioambiental no estado da Bahia

Abstract

The panorama of basic sanitation in Brazil is very far from the unfavorable objective regarding the universalization of services, mainly in the north and northeast regions of the country. In the search for improvements, the federal government enacted Federal Law No. 14,026 of 2020, which establishes the new legal framework for basic sanitation. Observing this scenario and considering that, especially in the state of Bahia, there are regions with different degrees of socio-environmental vulnerability, this research was carried out with the aim of evaluating the implications of the proposals of this new legal framework for serving the most vulnerable regions, in terms of respect for water supply and sanitation. To achieve this objective, initially a bibliographic survey of publications related to basic sanitation was carried out, as well as a documentary analysis of legal provisions on sanitation and a survey of works that addressed the possible implications of the new legal framework for sanitation. Furthermore, the degree of socio-environmental vulnerability was characterized in the different micro-regions of the state of Bahia. To this end, the socio-environmental vulnerability index (IVSA) was calculated, using the metrics average monthly salary of formal workers (SMMTF), initial years of elementary education, infant mortality (deaths per thousand live births), hospitalizations for diarrhea, households with electricity, percentage of water supply by microregion, percentage of losses in water supply, percentage of sewage collection, percentage of sewage treatment. The 417 municipalities grouped into 20 micro-regions of Bahia were analyzed, as per state complementary laws nº 41/2014, 48/2019 and 51/2022, among which three most vulnerable micro-regions were identified: the Paramirim Basin, Chapada Diamantina and Sisal-Jacuípe. These presented a high level of socio-environmental vulnerability, with water supply and sewage collection indicators below the average of other micro-regions. Although at the state level Bahia is on the path to adapting to the new legal framework, establishing regulations aimed at better regulation, governance and supervision, with regard to its implementation within the micro-regions of Bahia, there are incipient actions and regional plans or non-existent municipal areas, with a long way to go before these localities begin to move effectively towards universalization