BACKGROUND:
Environmental racism refers to inequalities related to environmental conditions of housing, work, or leisure that are determined by skin color¹. Racial and ethnic discrimination is evident in access to social services, particularly water and sanitation. In Brazil, in 2018, a white person had a 72.1% likelihood of having access to public network water supply services, sewerage through a sewer or stormwater network, and solid waste collection, whereas for black people this likelihood was 54.7%². In order to identify these inequalities, this study analysed indicators of access to water supply and sanitation services by race/skin colour across the 5570 Brazilian municipalities in 2022. The study aims to highlight the presence of environmental racism in the implementation of public policies, which manifests through actions that produce racist impacts regardless of intent³.

METHODS:
Two indicators were calculated based on the 2022 national census: safe access to water and safe access to sanitation. Indices were calculated separately at the municipal level for individuals identified as white and for individuals identified as Black or mixed-race. The results were processed in QGIS to produce thematic maps.

RESULTS:
The analysis examined racial composition and access to safely managed water supply and sanitation services at the municipal level. Results show that municipalities with a higher proportion of white residents have greater coverage of safely managed water and sanitation services, while those with higher proportions of black/mixed-race populations experience substantially lower levels of access, highlighting persistent racial inequalities in basic sanitation.

CONCLUSIONS:
The data show that inequality in access to safe water and sanitation has a racial dimension and can be understood as environmental racism. It is a hallmark of an unequal and racist society that the municipalities with the best sanitation service coverage are also those with the highest numbers of white residents.