PRIVATIZATION AND THE CHALLENGES FOR UNIVERSALIZATION OF BASIC SANITATION AFTER NEW LEGAL FRAMEWORK

Abstract

The purpose of this work is to analyze the challenges for the universalization of basic sanitation after the approval of the new legal framework for basic sanitation, legislation that presents the privatization of sanitation services as the solution to achieving universalization. The research problem was to investigate whether the provision of basic sanitation services by the private sector is decisive for the universalization of services or whether this can be achieved independently of the service provision management model. To produce the work, bibliographical and empirical research was undertaken, including analyzing basic sanitation situations in other countries. From the analysis, it was found that international and national experiences demonstrate that in locations where services were universalized, this was only possible with huge public investments or subsidized by public resources; that it is necessary to understand that the provision of sanitation services fulfills human rights and cannot be understood as just a consumer good; and that there is a need to guarantee social control over the provision of sanitation services.