Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) – partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 26 October 2010

A severe drought has dropped water levels on a major Amazon tributary to their lowest point since officials began keeping records more than a century ago, the government reported on Monday, cutting off dozens of communities who depend on the river for work and transportation.

A municipal worker cleans up garbage left behind by the receding Rio Negro river

Floating homes along the Rio Negro now rest on muddy flats, and locals have had to modify boats to run in shallower waters in a region without roads. Some riverbanks have caved in, although no injuries have been reported. Enormous fields of trash and other debris have been revealed by the disappearing waters.

The drought is hurting fishing, cattle, agriculture and other businesses, prompting authorities to declare a state of emergency in nearly 40 municipalities. Amazonas state officials said more than 60 000 families have been affected by the drought.

The government has distributed about 600 tons of food, water and medicine, much of it by helicopter to isolated villages.

“It is a difficult situation for the community,” resident Josimar Peixoto told Globo TV. “The families are struggling here.”

The government’s geological service said on Monday that the Rio Negro was measured at a depth of 13.63m the previous day near the jungle city of Manaus, the lowest since a measuring system was implemented in 1902.

Manaus, in northern Brazil, is where the Rio Negro is at its deepest and where it merges with the Amazon River – meaning some places upstream are nearly completely dry.

The previous low was 13.64m, recorded in 1963. Continue reading Severe drought on Amazon tributary