Políticas públicas e gestão regional de sistemas de esgotamento sanitário no Centro-Oeste Mineiro: os desafios da universalização.

Expanding the complete coverage of sewage services is one of the great challenges of the century. The indicators and public policy around the theme, recognize the need to expand efforts to achieve universalization, as international goals established by the United Nations and member countries. Brazil, like several countries, has been gradually expanding its services, however this still falls short of what is needed. Minas Gerais, one of the main states of the federation, has the worst record with regard to the treatment of collected sewage, a scenario that amplifies to several regions, including the Midwest of Minas Gerais. It is noteworthy that this microregion integrates important national hydrographic basins, demanding efforts still more complex in the treatment of sewage generated. The present work sought to build a thorough diagnosis of sewage in municipalities in the region - which in the main are characterized as small, therefore evaluating this service, under the aspects; management, coverage rates, impacts of public policies and other indicators are determinants in their presence or absence. Based on secondary data from the main national systems - SNIS, PNSB / IBGE, Atlas Sewers of ANA and Census 2010, and in the survey of primary data in 28 municipalities that make up the region, the study assessed the quality of the data generated by the systems, finding discrepancies and significant changes that compromise its quality and consequently its use for setting goals and actions for sanitation. Yet, we observe that was also identified the non-compliance of the legislation in force regarding the transparency of public acts through evaluated data. Based on secondary data, the characteristics of municipal authorities associated with the different providers of sewage services in the Region, predominant in institutionalized providers; indirect administration, state concessionaire and private companies - in the municipalities with the best global indicators within the Demographic, Sanitary Conditions, Income and Human Development and Labor, suggesting a preference of these service providers in municipalities with these characteristics. The evaluation of the services offered in the municipalities through the collection of primary data, pointed out better indicators in the contexts of structural and structuring measures in municipalities with a private provider, even though positive results have been identified in all evaluated management models. The profile found, suggests that the positive result for this provider model may be linked to the model's characteristics, aimed at expanding the customer base, which can generate a mismatch of the principles of equity and integrality, without regulation of the services provided. Finally, the positive impacts caused by the publication of the Law no. 11,445 / 2007 in the region, with a significant expansion of works aimed at treatment domestic sewage. Current legislation has resulted in infrastructure of the region, although fragile, still, the structured measures, mainly with regard to political and administrative aspects, guarantee the sustainability of services. The results found, reinforce the need for political engagement and the different actors related to the theme, providing better conditions for the municipalities that guarantee their offer and continuity, contributing in this context to their expansion until universality is achieved. Aiming at the concrete contribution of this work, a manual was prepared with guidelines for the implementation and sustainability of sanitary sewage in the municipalities, representing the technical product, as a basic requirement of the graduate program in Sustainability and Environmental Technology.