Abstract
This study investigated the human development of eight rural municipalities in the state of Ceará that have the Integrated Rural Sanitation System (SISAR) and 170 that do not. The study was developed based on the Municipal Human Development Indicators (MHDIs), which feature in the Atlas of Human Development, by drawing data from the 1991, 2000 and 2010 Demographic Censuses. The R software was used to carry out the statistical analyses. The results found for the general MHDI showed a significant difference between the means of the two groups, which did not occur when the income, longevity, and education dimensions were analyzed. In sum, it was verified that, in general, implementing water supply systems contributes to increasing human development levels, but as regards the more specific dimensions, this premise was not statistically confirmed.
Key words:
Rural Sanitation; Sewage System; Water Supply; Human Development