Brazil Manages Full Sewage Collection in Only Three Cities

Brazil sanitation remains one of the country’s most stubborn infrastructure failures. The 18th edition of the Sanitation Ranking, released on March 18 by the Instituto Trata Brasil, reveals that just three of the 100 most populous cities have achieved total sewage collection — a staggering indictment with the 2033 universal coverage deadline now only seven years away.

The annual study, which uses 2024 data from the national sanitation information system (SINISA), ranks Brazil’s biggest municipalities on water supply, sewage collection and treatment, efficiency, and investment. The Rio Times, a Latin American financial news outlet, examines what the numbers reveal about who is investing in sanitation and who is falling behind.

Brazil Sanitation: The Best and the Worst

The four top-ranked municipalities are all in São Paulo state: Franca, São José do Rio Preto, Campinas, and Santos — all of which have already reached universal service. Of the 20 best-performing cities, nine are in São Paulo, six in Paraná, two in Goiás, two in Minas Gerais, and one in Rio de Janeiro.

The bottom of the ranking tells a different story. Of the 20 worst-performing cities, four are in Rio de Janeiro state, four in Pará, and three in Pernambuco. Seven are state capitals: Maceió, Manaus, São Luís, Belém, Rio Branco, Macapá, and Porto Velho. The regional divide is stark — four of the worst are in the North, three in the Northeast, and only one each in the Center-West and South.

Among Brazil’s 27 state capitals, only five have achieved at least 99% water supply coverage, despite a national capital average of 93.67%. On sewage collection, just seven capitals exceed 90%. On sewage treatment, only seven reach 80% — the legal threshold for universalization under Brazil’s 2020 Sanitation Legal Framework.

The Investment Gap Driving Brazil Sanitation Failure

The ranking draws a direct line between spending and results. The 20 best-performing municipalities invested an annual average of R$176.17 ($31) per inhabitant between 2020 and 2024 — still about 22% below the national average estimated for universalization. The 20 worst invested just R$77.58 ($14) per inhabitant, roughly 65% below the required level.

More than half of all ranked municipalities spend less than R$100 ($18) per person annually on sanitation. Total capital investment in the 27 state capitals over the five-year period reached about R$34 billion ($6.1 billion), but São Paulo city alone absorbed 36% of that — roughly R$12.2 billion ($2.2 billion) — leaving the rest of the country dramatically underfunded.

While 28 municipalities have technically reached the water supply universalization target, only 11 of those actually deliver 100% coverage. On sewage treatment, just seven cities hit 100%, with 25 others above the 80% threshold. Brazil sanitation progress is real — investment rose from R$111 per capita in 2022 to R$126 in 2023, a 13% increase — but at current rates, analysts and the Trata Brasil Institute say the 2033 deadline remains out of reach without a fundamental acceleration in spending and private-sector participation.

For investors watching the privatization wave sweeping Brazil’s water sector — from Sabesp in São Paulo to the pending Copasa sale in Minas Gerais — the ranking is both a measure of how far the country still must go and a map of where the largest opportunities lie.