Companies challenge sewage pollution surcharge in Rio de Janeiro
Lucas Souza, of We Save
Divulgação
Major water-consuming companies are preparing to challenge an additional fee imposed by Águas do Rio 4, a water and sewage utility operated by Aegea in Rio de Janeiro, for discharging pollutants into the sewage system. Initially, the companies plan to raise the issue with the regulatory agency, but groups are considering taking the matter to court if no agreement is reached, according to sources.
The surcharge applies to non-domestic wastewater with higher pollutant loads that requires different treatment processes, making operations more expensive, Aegea said in a notice sent to customers.
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The concessionaire, which serves central and northern Rio de Janeiro as well as eight cities in the Baixada Fluminense region, began notifying companies between April and May. The first bills containing the additional charge arrived last month, according to accounts from affected customers.
Companies that have started receiving the surcharge include hospital operator Rede D’Or, gas stations in the Baixada Fluminense, and shopping centers, sources familiar with the matter said.
Aegea is legally entitled to impose the charge, which is provided for under Brazilian law. However, the affected companies say the criteria used to calculate the fee are unclear and argue that there was no prior analysis of the wastewater discharged to demonstrate that a given customer should be subject to the additional pollution factor.
On the utility’s side, a source said the surcharge had already been imposed before the private concession began, when the service was operated by the then state-owned utility, on about 756 nonresidential customers whose wastewater had higher pollutant loads.
According to the source, while the service was still state-run, the fee stopped being charged to about 30 companies for reasons the private operator was unable to determine. The charge is now being reinstated for that group, the source said. The source also said reports were prepared in all cases.
Consumers acknowledge that the surcharge itself is valid but question how it has been applied, said Lucas Souza, president of consulting firm We Save, which already advises at least 10 companies that have raised complaints about the issue. “The local regulations allow an additional charge when wastewater is discharged under abnormal conditions that could damage the sewage system, but they do not provide for charges based solely on an assumption,” he said.
“Customers have received charges supposedly based on analyses by Águas do Rio experts, but they say those analyses were not conducted in their presence. In one case, a customer saw the collection being carried out [by the concessionaire’s teams], but it was taken from an external sewage box on the sidewalk that receives wastewater from several other properties as well,” Souza noted.
In general, sewage charges are calculated based on the volume of water consumed during the month. The additional fee, however, applies only to the sewage portion of the bill. In some cases, the surcharge has doubled the sewage charge, according to Souza.
In a statement, Aegea said that “the practice maintained by the concessionaire since the beginning of the concession regarding the special sewage tariff is supported by Law No. 11,445/2007 and applies exclusively to properties with organic loads above the usual parameters for domestic wastewater.”
The company also said that classification is based on prior technical reports provided to customers, and that users have the right to submit their own report to challenge the concessionaire’s findings or install pretreatment equipment to qualify for an exemption from the surcharge.
The Rio de Janeiro State Regulatory Agency for Energy and Basic Sanitation (Agenersa) also said in a statement that it “has not received, to date, any complaints on the matter through its ombudsperson’s office” and that the criteria for the charge are established in its service regulations. “In the event of an improper charge or questions about the application of these criteria, Agenersa’s ombudsperson’s office is available,” it said.
Surcharges for pollutants in wastewater are not new in the sanitation industry, nor are customer disputes over them.
In São Paulo, Sabesp uses what is known as the K Factor to calculate the pollutant load generated by industrial, commercial, and service customers. The charge has criteria determining how it is calculated and which sectors are subject to the additional fee. However, the company faces lawsuits challenging the charges, with customers prevailing in several cases.
The argument that the company had failed to conduct a prior assessment of wastewater before imposing the charge was used by law firm Siqueira & Macarini after it began receiving K Factor charges at its office in the countryside of São Paulo state. The firm succeeded in overturning the charge in court and has since begun advising other commercial customers on the issue.
“The problem is not the charge itself, which has a legal basis, but the way it is added to the bill. Before Sabesp can include this fee on a customer’s bill, it needs to conduct a study showing that they are discharging unusually high levels of pollutants. In many cases, the utility doesn’t do that; it simply looks at the customer’s business activity and applies the factor directly to the bill,” partner Renato Siqueira said.
Sabesp declined to comment. In a statement, Rede D’Or said its hospitals “maintain the highest levels of quality control in the treatment of sewage and waste, in compliance with current legislation. About the tariff structure in the state of Rio de Janeiro, they strictly follow the criteria established in the Regulation of Water Supply and Sanitation Services, approved by State Decree No. 48,225/2022.”
