Catalina Gomez, Rio de Janeiro Community Manager
Rio de Janeiro has fairly good water service coverage, with only 1,5 percent of the city’s 32,908 households lacking proper service. The city has also made important improvements regarding sewer coverage in the past decade. According to Rio Como Vamos, in 2000 21 percent of the city’s households didn’t have sewer services, while ten years later, only five percent did not.
When looking at the map of covered areas, it is interesting to note that the best water and sewerage coverage isn’t necessarily found in the better-off areas, but in the neighborhoods closest to the city center. The center benefits from the best service provision, and the further away a neighborhood is from the center, the worse its service provision is. This is particularly evident in Rio’s southern area. Lagoa and Barra de Tijuca for example, are two upscale neighborhoods in the south of Rio far from the city center. These areas have worse water services than low-income neighborhoods such like Mare and Complexo do Alemão, which are located in Rio’s northern area, close to the city center.
The fact that many low-income neighborhoods have good access to water and sewerage services can be attributed to public urban upgrading programs such as Favela Bairro, which has been existed for close to 20 years, and the recently launched Morar Carioca. These programs aim at improving the living conditions of the city’s poorest and have been quite effective in expanding basic urban services, including water and sewerage systems. Investments in some neighborhoods, like the well-known City of God (Cidade de Deus), have successfully resulted in good service coverage. However, investments in some other neighborhoods, like Rocinha, have been less successful in providing water and sewerage coverage, because of the area’s hilly topography and high population density.
The lack of sewerage service in places like Rocinha affects not only the residents of this neighborhood, but also the visitors of nearby beaches, which receive part of the off running sewage. Beautiful beaches like São Conrado are therefore extremely affected by the lack of adequate sewage treatment and disposal, needing immediate action to avoid greater ocean contamination.
The city’s main challenge is therefore to expand its water and sewerage services through urban upgrading programs in low-income neighborhoods, mostly in Rio’s southern and western areas. Some of these zones are also the city’s main expansion areas, where several constructions related to the upcoming mega events are taking place. Greater investment in basic urban services is necessary to achieve universal access to water and sewerage service in upcoming years.