BASIC SANITATION AS A FACTOR IN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT ’

Along with general observations on the importance of sanita-tion to economic development, the author discusses sanita-tion conditions in Brazil and points up the major problems faced by the country for lack of a general basic sanitation program. The importance of basic sanitation has been acknowledged from time immemorial, and the remarkable accomplishments of the past in this field are, even today, an object of great admiration. Historians have noted that every major civilization has marked an era of important advance in sanitation. Such importance was attributed by the Romans to their water-works that after each of their conquests they proceeded to establish water supply programs on a priority basis as a condition for the progress and well-being of the new colony. In modern times, the construction of sani-tation facilities assumed new momentum after the middle of the last century. In Brazil, basic sanitation has passed through successive stages in which periods of intensive interest in the subject have al-ternated with others in which a secondary role was assigned to it. Thus, we had an auspicious start in this field at the time of the Empire, a golden age during the First Republic, and a number of less significant efforts in recent decades. Strange as it may seem, a general basic sanitation plan for the country has never been prepared. The result is that Brazil today has the largest population in the western world that continues to lack minimal sanitatio