Faces da privatização: a transição do modelo de gestão dos serviços de água e esgotos em Cachoeiro de itapemirim - ES

Abstract

The study analyzes the privatization process and the transition of management model for water supply and sanitation services in Cachoeiro de Itapemirim ES, and examines the perception ofdifferent stakeholders about changes in this sector since 1998 in that municipality. To achieve this purpose, it begins with a discussion about sanitation through a wider perspective, as a peoples right and a States duty, reflecting about the debate between those who advocate theservices organization around marketing strategies and those who defend its essential character to life. It also presents a brief review on the historical performance of private enterprise in this sector in Brazil, showing the panorama of the country in the late nineteenth century, when foreign companies were responsible for the first collective interventions in urban centers. It also includes the socioeconomic and political contexts of the 1980s and 1990´s, which resulted in the privatization of some municipal systems. Cachoeiro´s recent experience is reconstituted fromdata collected from official documents and information gathered in the field, through semistructured interviews with government officials, technicians, managers, and focal groups with the participation of local community leaders. This is followed by a discussion about the stakeholders prevalent conception of sanitation; the process that resulted in granting services; the consequences of the municipal policy on sanitation; channels and forums for information, public participation and social control identified; the role played by the Regulatory Agency; the situation of blending of different related areas; the characterization of the quality of services and public perceptions; the user satisfaction with private management, the recent change of the Concessionaires drivers and the challenges for the citys sanitation in the future. In the end, thestudy concludes that this case does not differ from other experiences of privatization in Brazil and in the world, although the local reality has some peculiarities. The municipal government was not able to provide quality services to the population, but the advances made after the concessionhave been below expectations, due mainly to increased costs for users.