Demographic Growth and Extension of Subnormal Agglomerates in the PCJ Basins

challenges to the universalization of sanitary sewage and water security

Abstract

The municipalities of the PCJ Basins have faced economic and demographic pressures for years that make it hard to universalize basic sanitation and water sustainability. This article aims to analyze the challenges faced by these municipalities, as well as by metropolitan management, since the inclusion of most of the PCJ Basins region in some metro region after the state reconfiguration process in the year 2021. In addition to natural elements, such as persisting droughts, and the structural ones, such as the extension of sanitary sewage services and the loss of water in distribution, the population of this region expanded more than the São Paulo state, combined with the migration of people looking for better job opportunities and the real estate speculation generated a process of socio-spatial segregation in cities extending the number of households in subnormal agglomerates. Demographic pressures were more robust in smaller and less dynamic municipalities, which, by nature, already face financial difficulties. These cities need public policies developed within the scope of metropolitan regions to face the challenges of guaranteeing access to water and sanitary sewage to everyone.