Analysis of the performance of the water supply system in the municipalities of Mato Grosso: comparison of public versus private service provision

Abstract

Water supply services are basic infrastructures to meet the population's water consumption needs. Since the late 1970s, in some developed countries, water supply services have been privatized in an attempt to improve their performance. In this context, the state of Mato Grosso has a unique characteristic in Brazil, as it has a completely municipalized sanitation service. This research aims to analyze the performance, through indicators, of water supply systems in 120 cities in the state of Mato Grosso. The data were extracted from the Municipal Basic Sanitation Plan 106 (PMSB 106) platform, from municipalities with a population of less than 50,000 inhabitants, with reference to the years 2015 to 2017. For this, 26 indicators were selected, followed by the application of the T-test, the ordinary least squares method, and propensity score matching. With the statistical analysis of mean comparison (T-test), it was observed that private service provision outperforms public service, but it should be noted that a simple comparison of means between the public and private systems is not sufficient to infer that one system is more efficient than the other. When applying multivariate analysis (ordinary least squares method and propensity score matching), calculations showed that there were no significant differences between the provision of service by the private or public provider regarding coverage indicators, losses, default rate, and intermittency, according to the selected variables. It is also noteworthy that the discussion on the efficiency of the water supply system must take into consideration the problems arising from political and contractual issues and the absence of competent regulatory entities.

Keywords:
T Test; Multivariate analysis; Municipalization; Privatization; Public management