Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística

About the publication - 2011

The deep regional inequalities that exist in the sanitation infrastructure make the universalization and development of services such as water supply, sanitary sewage, urban cleaning, garbage cleaning and urban drainage a goal to yet be achieved, even nowadays, by the State and earned by the Brazilian society.

The path of sanitation surveys in the IBGE, which starts with an initial approach restricted to the economic field, advancing later into social statistics to reach territorial and environmental issues, to some extent, followed up the evolution of its understanding as a complex aspect that require a geographic and, consequently, integrative comprehension of the relationship between society and nature, which affect the Brazilian population’s daily life, especially of those that live in the main urban centers of the country. The sanitary issue can neither be considered in a homogeneous way nor in a linear way in the entire national territory. On the contrary, it requires a coherent approach, considering the environmental and social diversity that affect, dynamically, the very understanding of this aspect as an answer matching the many demographic, social, political and environmental realities that exist in the vast national territory.

By collecting information from the 2008 National Survey of Basic Sanitation – PNSB, carried out in partnership with the Ministry of Cities, as well as from the 2010 Population Census statistics and from other sources, such as agencies and organization, this Atlas provides a wide approach on the subject, highlighting not only the space distribution, quality and efficiency of the network and services provided in the country, but also giving information about the relationship between the basic sanitation and the environmental preservation and the population’s quality of life.

Furthermore, it presents the spatialization of some subject matters organized by river basins, which is important for the understanding of the impact made by the types of occupation and use of the territory and water resources. Maps, analytical texts, charts, tables and pictures, along with a glossary with relevant expressions and definitions, make it easier for the reader to have an integrated comprehension of the subject matters addressed.