Abastecimento de água no município de São Luís (Maranhão), após 10 anos do marco regulatório 2007

Abstract

This study aims to analyze public water supply services in the city of São Luís, taking into account the existence of the regulatory framework for more than 10 years. Its specific objective: to know public policies on basic sanitation; examine the application of the basic sanitation regulatory framework; understand why basic sanitation is an expression of the social issue; understand the structure of water supply systems and their distribution in the city of São Luís. The research resulted from bibliographic studies, using already prepared materials: books, scientific articles, magazines, electronic documents and encyclopedias. We sought to make a critical analysis of reality, understanding the singularity and particularity of a totalizing global perspective, based on historical dialectical materialism, whose situation applies to understand the obstacles and understand the conflicts over the right to universal services. water supply; the standards established for sanitation that aim to strengthen the privatization of water supply services. Finally, it was demonstrated that, in 10 years of regulatory framework for sanitation, the municipality of São Luís do Maranhão still lives with nonconformities in the water supply since a significant part of the population lives with an intermittency regime. It was found that there is a relatively high number of users in an irregular situation, about 60% of the districts with disproportionate supply through maneuvers and the others served by insufficient systems and isolated wells. In view of this scenario, it is a form of precarious public services in water supply. Another identified element is the waste of water, both due to problems of lack of maintenance and care with the distribution networks, known as physical losses and also losses due to lack of hydrometer and registered users. The apparent losses are directly related to self-connections to the supply systems of the environmental sanitation company. As for users, it is necessary to develop an Environmental Education process to educate children and sensitize adults in relation to the rational use of water resources. Another element found in the research is related to the lack of Environmental Education in the communities, aiming at reducing water losses and new ways of relating to water resources.