Development of Qualit y Index in Basic Urban Sanitation and its Application in the Towns of the State of Paraná, Brazil

Abstract

Drinkable water supply, sewerage, the collection and disposal of solid wastes and urban rain drains are indispensible public services in towns and cities that are concerned with the health of the community, life quality and environment. Easily acquired data provided the quality of environmental sanitation that the town or city offered so that government administrators could plan the urban area according to the needs of its citizens and decrease the deficiencies in environmental sanitation. Current assay developed a Quality Index of Basic Urban Sanitation to be applied to cities with over 100,000 inhabitants in the state of Paraná, Brazil, between 2000 and 2008. (1) The collection of data on environmental sanitation, (2) the determination of limit parameters of chosen data; (3) the calculation of quality indicators for each city; (4) the comparison of results from cities were required. The study registered a dire lack of information on urban environmental sanitation, especially on solid residues and sewerage. The above implies difficulties with regard to administration and urban planning. Results show that, as a rule, the cities under analysis offered a rather good basic sanitation within at least one year. However, no city had the best quality in basic sanitation service (> 80.0). The cities with no quality rate above 60 comprised Apucarana, Araucária and Colombo. The year 2006 was the best for Quality Index information and, consequently, for the highest transmission of information by the municipalities to the system. During 2006 the highest Quality Index rate belonged to Londrina (78.3) and the lowest to Colombo (49.8).