Proposta de modelo de regionalização para os serviços de saneamento básico: marco regulatório da Lei Nº14.026/2020

Abstract

Access to water supply and sanitation services is a global issue, particularly affecting developing countries and low-income populations. In Brazil, facing the challenge of universalizing basic sanitation, the federal government enacted Law No. 14,026 of July 15, 2020, which updates the sector's legal framework and, among other measures, encourages the regionalization of services, i.e., the grouping of cities to jointly provide sanitation services. Additionally, Law No. 14,026/2020, through regionalization, aims to achieve universal access to water supply and sanitation by 2033, seeking economies of scale and ensuring the technical and economic-financial viability of the services provided. Therefore, this work aims to develop a proposed regionalization model for water supply and sanitation services, considering classes of socioeconomic, operational, financial, and water quality indicators. The methodology for developing the model was elaborated in six stages: in the first stage, the dimensions of the structures aggregated in the regionalization were defined, then the general index was constructed to compose the proposed regionalization model; in the third stage, the gravitational model was adapted to the characteristics of sanitation regionalization, in the fourth stage, criteria were defined for the choice of central municipalities and the interaction between municipalities and centers, in the following stage, the simulation and validation of the regionalization model for the state of Paraíba were carried out, and finally, in the sixth stage, the sensitivity, behavior, and efficiency of the proposed regionalization model were evaluated. The results obtained from the application of the model presented suggestions for groupings with arrangements of four, five, six, seven, and eight sanitation regions. The analyses were conducted on socioeconomic, operational, financial, water quality aspects, and the distribution across six microregions was the most satisfactory in meeting the evaluated criteria. It is concluded that the proposed model showed sensitivity to the variations imposed on it and effectively responded to the proposed grouping for sanitation regionalization.