Successful Experiences in Municipal Public Water and Sanitation Services from Brazil

This is a translation of
Experiências de Êxito em Serviços Públicos Municipais de Saneamento, published by ASSEMAE (Associação Nacional dos Serviços Municipais de Saneamento), June 2006.

The book presents twenty examples of successful public water delivery in large and small, wealthy and poor municipalities across Brazil. The city of Porto Alegre is already known around the world for its use of participatory budgeting and other democratic reforms to achieve universal access to clean water. The book shows that similar approaches are used in many other cities in Brazil and in many cases have led to rapid expansion of access to water and sanitation for the poorest communities.

Examples are the city of Alagoinhas (140,000 inhabitants) in the poor north-east of Brazil and Santo Andre (670,000 inhabitants) in the industrial region around Sao Paolo. The cases in the book, selected by a group of water sector specialists following strict criteria, show that public water utilities can achieve universal access, also in very difficult socio-economic circumstances. Key features of the successes presented in the book are a strong political will to improve public water delivery and, importantly, "social control": reforms that boost citizen's involvement and democratic control over public services.

"Successful Experiences in Municipal Public Water and Sanitation Services from Brazil" is published by ASSEMAE, the federation of more than 1,700 public water and sanitation companies from municipalities from across Brazil.

Successful Experiences in Municipal Public Sanitation Services from Brazil

ASSEMAE (National Association of Municipal Services of Water and Sanitation)
Silvano Silvéiro da Costa
Leo Heller
Luiz Roberto Santos Moraes
Patrícia Campos Borja
Carlos Henrique de Melo
Denise Sacco

English Version

Translated by: Kostis Damianakis
Collaboration with: Kate Hummel, Nadia Idle, Eva Watkinson
Co-ordinated by: Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO)
Transnational Institute (TNI)
World Development Movement (WDM)

Foreword and Introduction (brazilwatercover.pdf (148 Kb))
Water supply and sanitation services overview in Brazil (brazilwater.pdf (139 Kb))
by Silvano Silverio da Costa
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[-]Alagoinhas: Participation and Social Control (brazilwater1.pdf (245 Kb))
[-]Araraquara: Universal Service (brazilwater2.pdf (262 Kb))
[-]Campinas: A Public Company with focus on the citizen (brazilwater3.pdf (241 Kb))
[-]Caxias do Sul: The Aim is to treat sewage in the short term [brazilwater4.pdf (209 Kb)]
[-]Guaíra: Superiority in Sanitation [brazilwater5.pdf (213 Kb)]
[-]Guarulhos: A success story [brazilwater6.pdf (224 Kb)]
[-]Ibiporã: Consortium strengthens sanitation [brazilwater7.pdf (174 Kb)]
[-]Ituiutaba: Perfect relationship with the client [brazilwater8.pdf (222 Kb)]
[-]Jaboticabal: Public Investments Fund [brazilwater9.pdf (201 Kb)]
[-]Passos: Meeting the challenges with external technical assistance [>brazilwater10.pdf (199 Kb)]brazilwater11.pdf (213 Kb)]
[-]Piracicaba: Where the fish stops [brazilwater12.pdf (223 Kb)]
[-]Poços de Caldas: The best Human Development Index in Minas Gerais [brazilwater13.pdf (197 Kb)]
[-]Porto Alegre: The Capital of municipal sanitation [brazilwater14.pdf (233 Kb)]
[-]Sacramento: From external supervision to autonomy [brazilwater15.pdf (198 Kb)]
[-]Santo André: Showcase of Sanitation [brazilwater16.pdf (254 Kb)]
[-]Umberlândia: Planning Growth [brazilwater17.pdf (216 Kb)]
[-]Unaí: The City grows by 358% in the 38 years of universal provision of sanitation services [brazilwater18.pdf (193 Kb)]
[-]Viçosa: Efficiency in combating water waste [brazilwater19.pdf (216 Kb)]
[-]Volta Redonda: Planning, the weapon of the Autonomous Service [brazilwater20.pdf (221 Kb)]
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