THE HUMAN RIGHT TO WATER AND THE REGULATION OF BASIC SANITATION IN BRAZIL: SOCIAL TARIFF AND ECONOMIC ACCESSIBILITY

Abstract

Access to drinking water and sanitation is notoriously recognized as an essential condition for the protection of health and the preservation of life, having been defined, by the United Nations (UN) resolution of 2010, as an essential human right. This essentiality gains particularly clear contours in the current context, marked by the Covid-19 pandemic. For the promotion of social and economic objectives related to the provision of these services, the regulatory framework of the Brazilian basic sanitation sector introduced the need for the establishment of independent agencies with the attribution of disciplining and supervising the activities of companies operating in the area. Among the various challenges posed to regulatory activity, the difficulty of access, by the low-income population, to sector services is highlighted. One of the instruments usually used to provide this access is called the Social Tariff. In this context, the article seeks to draw a panoramic view of its use, at the national level, in the provision of sectorial services, using data from the National Sanitation Information System - SNIS. It was found that the instrument is present in most municipalities, noting, however, great heterogeneity in the criteria adopted for its concession, which are often dissociated from the main objective of their institution.