Public water supply: analysis of subsidies to services in the Federal District, Brazil

Abstract

This paper analyzes the mechanisms of transference of resources used to provide water services to the population of the Federal District. The study consists of a literature review and a survey related to the tariff structure of water public supply, emphasizing the presence of subsidies among categories of users. From our results, we can inferred that more than 90% of the water-consuming units in the study area are subsidized. The number of consumer units in the Subsidized Normal Residential category in the Federal District of Brazil is approximately 472 times higher than that of units categorized as Popular Tariff. In addition to achieving universalization of water access, the challenge for the distribution company and the regulatory agency refers to the equity of access to water, because in some regions of the Federal District occur distortions relatively to the share of family income commit to water and sewage services.