Sanitation Policies and Peripheral Urbanization: The Guandu Basin and The Metropolitan Municipalities of Rj (Brazil)

Abstract

Reflection on human rights in cities goes directly to basic housing conditions. Such conditions are related to the broad debate on sanitation policies, as they promote access to drinking water and wastewater collection, which are essential elements for promoting healthy and sustainable cities. In Brazil, there are still problems regarding access to basic sanitation for a large part of the population, especially those who live in consolidated periphery areas and in peri-urban areas of large cities, which, despite being close to important basins and water sources, remain with problems of access to water and sewerage. This is the example of the municipalities of the Baixada Fluminense (Rio de Janeiro Lowlands) that are part of the Guandu Hydrographic Basin (RH-II), namely: Paracambi, Seropédica, Itaguaí, Japerí and Queimados. Such cities have unique characteristics in the metropolitan context of Rio de Janeiro, marked by the growth of occupations in urban areas in recent years and the need to expand access to sanitation for its population. This problem involves the universal issue of access to sanitation and the sustainability of the watershed in the region, which guarantees the supply of more than 9 million inhabitants of the metropolitan region of Rio de Janeiro. In order to think of this scenario, this work has as its methodological scope the analysis of public policies for the sanitation sector, having as a context the urban and territorial dimension of the urban periphery of Rio de Janeiro. It is also based on a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the evolution of access to water and sanitary sewerage in the region, with emphasis on urban-metropolitan municipalities fully inserted in the Guandu Basin.