Evaluation of the Efficiency of Basic Sanitation Integrated Management in Brazilian Municipalities

Abstract

This study aims to evaluate the level of technical efficiency of companies that perform the integrated management of basic sanitation in Brazilian municipalities. A Multiple Data Envelopment Analysis (M-DEA) model was applied to estimate the performance of water supply and sewage services in 1628 municipalities covering more than 56% of the Brazilian population, identifying the factors that most influence the efficiency of the sector in the years 2008 and 2016. The M-DEA methodology is an extension of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) with multiple DEA executions considering all combinations of inputs and outputs to calculate efficiency scores. The methodology reduces possible biases in the selection of resources and products of the model, ability to support decision-making in favor of improvements in the sector′s efficiency based on national regulatory framework. The analyses show that the companies analyzed can increase their operating results and attendance coverage by more than 60%, given the current levels of infrastructure, human and financial resources in the sector. Based on the simulation of potential efficiency gains in Brazilian basic sanitation companies, the estimates show that the coverage of the population with access to sanitary sewage would go from the current 59.9% to 76.5%. The evidence found provides indications to subsidize sanitation management in the country at the micro-analytical level, enabling a better competitive position in the sector for the integrated management of basic sanitation and its universalization in Brazil.