Planos municipais de saneamento básico como instrumento de garantia do princípio de universalização de acesso ao saneamento básico o caso de municípios cearenses com menos de 20 mil habitantes: uma questão em xeque

Abstract

Water is a vital element for the survival of humans, animals and plants in the world, overall, for guaranteeing the existence of these forms of life on the planet. This is an issue regarding to which there are no disagreements of any kind or nature. In turn, public health, the environment, water resources, cities and other urban and rural areas, that is, society as a whole depends on adequate sanitation. The Brazilian State does not lack prescriptive regulatory frameworks to ensure that every Brazilian citizen has the right to this public service of a primary nature, which is essential, despite the fact that, throughout governments with different political and partisan biases, access to basic sanitation, in none of its four dimensions (water supply, sanitary sewage, urban drainage and adequate treatment and disposal of residues), until now, has become universal. The relevance of studying this topic becomes acute when one has to face the numbers: the supply of potable water only reaches 81.1% of the Brazilian population; in, 2010, Brazil was on 9th place in the world ranking of countries with population without access to a bathroom; Also in 2010, in the 100 largest Brazilian cities, of its 77 million inhabitants, 7 million were deprived of the right to potable water and, for 31 million, access to sewage collection was not guaranteed. This academic endeavor will focus, within this policy of universal access to basic sanitation, on what the legal system defines as the instrument through which this access will be achieved: the Municipal Basic Sanitation Plan (PMSB). The study assesses the extent to which the PMSBs can effectively respond to ensuring the universalization of basic sanitation in Ceará counties with a population of less than 20,000 inhabitants, given that these have low development indices (IDHs) and limited technical capacity to guarantee the execution of what is proposed in the plan, compromising the viability of the policy as it is designed. Qualitative and quantitative base analyzes were at the same time intertwined, with the purpose of evaluating the viability of implementing and sustaining the principle of universalization prescribed in this public policy. Through a case study, the process of implementing the PMSB in the counties of Barreira and Granjeiro in Ceará, during the months of August and November 2013, was analyzed. The constitution of data for the construction of the evaluation was made possible through visits and monitoring in the counties, interviews, systematic observation, focus group and critical analysis of public hearings that were held in the counties, aiming to obtain the participation of the whole society and the consequent social control over the elaboration of the plans. Bibliographical and documentary research, based on journals, technical publications, official websites and Cagece, Arce, ANA and Cogerh databases, make up the arsenal of information and data essential to unveiling the issue under study. Everything we have seen leads us to believe that the mere existence of the Municipal Basic Sanitation Plan does not guarantee universal access to basic sanitation services in Ceará counties with up to 20,000 inhabitants. Mainly, the mayors and their teams of technicians and advisors lack political will, interest and management capacity.