Brazil recently passed new sanitation rules. Lula wants them down the drain

Brazil passed a new legal framework for the sanitation sector in July 2020, which experts heralded as a way to bring competition to the field and help the country finally achieve universal sanitation. But the new Brazilian government wants to pass new new rules. 

Cities Minister Jader Filho has promised that the federal government will issue a decree on Wednesday changing the sanitation framework. For more than three months, the Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva government has kept discussions largely out of the public eye, even from the Environment Ministry. Experts and private companies are concerned about impending changes, which could hinder investment.

The 2020 legal framework for sanitation stipulates that water supply must reach 99 percent of the population by 2033. Sewage collection and treatment services must reach 90 percent by the same year. Last year, industry association Abcon Sindcon estimated that it would take BRL 893 billion (USD 175 billion) to meet these targets.

A recent study by Instituto Trata Brasil and GO Associados highlighted Brazil’s massive inequalities in access to water and sanitation. Overall, about 84 percent of Brazilians currently have access to water service delivery, and 55 percent to wastewater treatment. If the goals are to be met, it will mean extending sanitation services to more than 100 million Brazilians within ten years.

In addition to setting targets with deadlines, the sanitation framework increased competition in the sector by requiring companies, even state-owned ones, to demonstrate their financial capacity for investment in order to participate in public tenders for service concessions organized by state and municipal governments.

During discussions in...