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Chapter: The Human Right to Water Analyzed in Light of Federal Law No. 14.026/2020

Book Description:

The Federal Constitution of 1988, our Citizen Constitution, innovates in various aspects, especially regarding the right to health as a right for all and a duty of the State, which must ensure universal and equal access. In addition to what is established in Article 186, in Item IV of Article 199, the constitution assigns to the unified health system the role of participating in the formulation and execution of basic sanitation policies.

As commonplace as it may sound today, this constitutional provision introduced an unprecedented paradigm concerning the issue of basic sanitation in Brazil. The Republic's Constitution, therefore, contrasts the conception of basic sanitation as an infrastructure measure with the conception of basic sanitation as a public health measure. In the first, sanitation is presented as an investment necessary for the reproduction of capital, whose provision should be carried out according to a business logic aimed at self-sustainability. The second, reflecting the health debates of the 1980s, views basic sanitation as a public health measure integrated into the social policy agenda.

However, more than 30 years after the promulgation of the Constitution, Brazil still faces serious problems related to basic sanitation. According to the 2021 Sanitation Ranking formulated by the Trata Brasil Institute, the national scenario is as follows: a) about 35 million Brazilians do not have access to water services; b) approximately 100 million people do not have access to sewage collection; c) the country still does not treat half of the sewage it generates (49%), which means discharging 5.3 thousand Olympic swimming pools of untreated sewage into nature daily.

Given these data, it is evident that access to basic sanitation emerges in the Brazilian legal system as a constitutional right aimed at promoting improvements in the population's quality of life and preserving the environment. For this reason, on July 15, 2020, Law 14.026/2020, referring to the new Basic Sanitation Regulatory Framework, was enacted. It provides for the universalization of water and sewage services by 2033 and encourages private investments.

These are some of the issues addressed in the present work, Basic Sanitation Regulatory Framework: Law 14.026/2020, brilliantly organized by lawyers Leandro Frota, Maurício Bezerra, and Vânia Aieta. Through this publication, the Brazilian Bar Association reaffirms its commitment to defending human rights and improving the legal culture in the country, strictly observing the provisions of Article 44 of Law No. 8.906/1994 (Statute of Advocacy and the OAB).