Current Status of Drinking Water Quality in a Latin American Megalopolis

(1) Background: Treated water distributed in a Latin American megapolis has been the target of criticism recent years. During summers 2020 and 2021, treated had taste smell mud metropolitan area Rio de Janeiro city, affecting ~10 million people. (2) Methods: To evaluate SRJ quality, comprehensive dataset was analyzed. In total, 194,821 samples were analyzed between 2018 corresponding to three parameters (chlorine concentration, n = 67,723; turbidity, 55,186; coliform abundance, 71,912). The 92 cities using two approaches according relevant law: quantitative qualitative approach. (3) Results: analyses, four groups found (Group A: analyzed; 49 51 cities; Group B, analyzed, 9 14 C, one parameter 17 D, no 12 16 cities). (4) Conclusions: top ten A showed 100% performance both rankings. However, several large cities, such as Duque Caxias São Gonçalo, did not have minimum required number or which poses serious risks for quality control public health.