The Sao Francisco River Integration Project

Sao Francisco River Integration Project is currently the largest water infrastructure project in Brazil with investment totaling $6.4 billion USD. It is conducted by the Brazilian government, which hires environmental consulting and engineering firms like ARCADIS Logos, the Brazilian arm of one of the top environmental firms in the US.

The project will serve the Northeast where the population is quite poor. The semiarid region experiences extreme water shortages and is known as the "drought polygon." The average amount of water available in the area averages 450 cubic meters per capital per year, one third of the minimum recommended by the United Nations. The Sao Francisco project will use 713 km of canals, aqueducts, tunnels, and dams to divert water from the Sao Francisco River into rivers that dry out during the dry season in order to supply people in the Northeast with water year-round.

The Sao Francisco River Basin

While the project seeks to do good for the people of the Northeast, it has many critics. The water level in the Sao Francisco is already affected by sedimentation, deforestation, and pollution, and many argue that taking from it will hurt the ecosystems that rely on the river even more. Dams built along the Sao Francisco generate 95% of electricity used in the Northeast, and taking too much from the river may impact hydroelectric plants' ability to serve energy needs.

In addition, the construction of new canals, dams, and more will affect plants and animals severely. Further deforestation has already been seen to desertify the already semiarid region. Channels will increase the paths of migrating animals, leading to inbreeding. And increased fish populations from the Sao Francisco diversions, especially predator fish, will disturb the balance of aquatic life in the receiving rivers.

A new canal near Fortaleza in northern Brazil

Some argue that a more sustainable solution is increased rainwater harvesting in the Northeast. They say that the River Integration Project will increase large-scale irrigation, which will increase evapotranspiration and, as a result, salt levels in soil. A network of nearly 1,000 NGOs, labor unions, and community and religious organizations are working on increasing the number of water and irrigation tanks in the more rural parts of the region. The River Integration Project, on the other hand, serves mostly urban populations.

Despite critiques, the project moves forward. ARCADIS Logos was just awarded management of an extension of the project this month and will receive $35 million USD for building additional infrastructure over the next 33 months. The debates around this project will continue, and it will be interesting to observe whether the ecological impacts play out in the way dissenters predict now.

 - Morgan

Sources:

• "ARCADIS wins extension of the largest water infrastructure project in Brazil." ARCADIS Press Release, 10 Feb 2014. http://hugin.info/132839/R/1760043/595520.pdf
• "Brazil: Costly Water for the Poor Northeast." Inter Press Service, 21 Oct 2011. http://www.ipsnews.net/2011/10/brazil-costly-water-for-the-poor-northeast/