Racial inequalities in access to sewerage services in Brazilian metropolitan regions

Abstract The proliferation of the environmental crisis and its unequal urban impacts, though a focus of recent research, intersects with longstanding Brazilian urban challenges such as basic sanitation. This article aims to provide an overview of racial inequalities in access to sewerage services, considering three factors: a comparative analysis at the metropolitan scale, an examination of the racial distribution of localities, and the quality of sanitation infrastructure. Our findings reveal an overall improvement in sewerage coverage between 2010 and 2022. Nonetheless, a robust and persistent disparity remains across all analyzed variables, displaying distinct patterns among different metropolitan regions and perpetuating historical environmental injustices.