Summer 1999 Research Report Renata Marson Teixeira De Andrade "Study of Sensitivity at Upper Sao Francisco Basin: Searching for Sediment Source"

2003 CLAS Summer Research Report: "Environmental History of the Lower Sao Francisco River"

2001 Report: Voices from the São Francisco River Valley, September 2001

---

A statue of Santo Francisco located at the top of the headwaters of the Sao Francisco River.

"We build storage reservoirs or power dams to store water, and mortage our irrigated valleys and our industries to pay for them, but every year they store a little less water and a little more mud. Reclamation, which should be for all time, thus becomes in part the source of a merely temporary prosperity."

-- Aldo Leopold, The Virgin Southwest, 1933

Sao Francisco River in the National Park of Canastra.

In general, countries and civilizations have faced water shortages due to natural climate variability, anthropogenic changes and desertification, or overexploitation and pollution of the resource base. Management of water resources inherently entails mitigating the effects of hydrological extremes and providing a greater degree of reliability in the delivery of water-related services. Because different users have different priorities and risk tolerances, the balance points among them during climate changing could be quite different from the present (hydropower and instream uses may be lost disproportionately compared to water supply). My project studies the effect of climate variability on hydropower generation, comparing USA and Brazil cases.

Sandmining at Para River (tributary of Tres Marias Reservoir).

My study case, the Sao Francisco River, is one of the most important rivers in Brazil, and is referred to as the National Unit River. It runs an extension of 2700 km from the rich southern region towards the semi-arid northeast region, sharing life to the poorest area of Brazil. Almost 25 million people live in this basin and depend on the water flowing from the Sao Francisco River for irrigation, electricity consumption, drinking water and navigation. The Sao Francisco Basin has a total area of 639,219.4 km2, and 53.8% (343,784.1 Km2) is located at the driest area of the country. There are 10 dams in the Sao Francisco River, and three of them have big reservoirs behind the dam as Sobradinho, Tres Marias and Itaparica.

Crossing the Tres Marias Reservoir by Ferry-boat.

The vulnerability to climate change (El nino effects on droughts intensification) and also to anthropogenic influence (land use, reservoirs, river regulation, water pollution) is one of the main concerns expressed by NGOs, local and national agencies, and community groups to the sustainable development in the Sao Francisco River Basin. There is already a growing electric energy deficit in Northeast region that is compensated by importing energy from other regions. During the normal dry season (no El Nino years), some reservoirs have depleted 40-60% of their total capacity. During El Nino, the situation can be worse.

Inside of the Tres Marias Dam, Hydropower Monitoring Room.

This field work helped to collect important material to evaluate the Upper Sao Francisco River basin, where the Tres Marias Dam is located. ASF Environmental Association of high Sao Francisco's diagnostic of the river's bank along National Park of Canastra (headwaters) and the Lagoa da Prata municipality (243.5 km), between 1990-1991 years, showed that only 4.03 % of the total edges still have riparian vegetation. The other 95.97 % were deforested and replaced by pasture/agriculture (cattle grass).

Inside of the Tres Marias Dam, Hydropower Monitoring Room.

I registered many of the erosion caused by deforestation and farming, diamond and sand mining, and also by Eucalyptus plantation farms. They are some of the many wounds in the Sao Francisco river basin.

 

 

 

---

Figure 1: Sao Francisco Basin and the Upper Sao Francisco basin highlighted, where the author did her research

---

Objective

My field research had basically a general purpose that depended upon three specific objectives to be targeted.

General purpose

To understand and evaluate the actual and historical pattern of land and water use, and climate variability in the upper part of the Sao Francisco River Basin.

Specific goals

• To collect data: references, maps, hydro- meteorologic and sediment data, and pictures of sensitive areas in the Upper-part Sao Francisco Basin;
• To interview some key people that works on federal and local Agencies and/or non-government institutions,
• And to visit the upper-part of the catchment and six gauges in that area.

Methods

The field research at Sao Francisco Basin consisted on two phases, a desk study related to the organization of the field work and developed through the contact with the key people working on ANEEL, CEMIG and other important institutions, and a field study related to the field research per se.

Desk study

I spent almost five weeks preparing the desk study, travelling from Sao Paulo to Brasilia and also to Belo Horizonte city. The desk study consisted basically on:

• Data and document gathering: at Aneel (National Agency of electric energy) and CODEVASF (Development Company of the Sao Francisco Valley) in Brasilia; at CEMIG (Minas Gerais Electric Company -Energy Utility) and CPRM (company of Mineralogical resources research), in Belo Horizonte. Maps of the basin (geological, physic, topographic), maps with gauge localization, rain, stream flow and sediment data at gauges.

• Interview and meeting with key people that works with water resources management, hydrology, meteorology and sediment: Prof. Marcos Freitas (Aneel), Eng. Rui (CODEVASF), Eng. Antonio Jose Machado (CEMIG), Prof. Newton Carvalho (Eletrobras), Naziano Pantajola (Aneel), Alice and Marcelo (CPRM), Prof. Ruibran (CEMIG/PUC), Prof. Yone (PUC-MG).

Field study

I spent one week visiting the Upper-part of the Sao Francisco River Basin. We drove from Belo Horizonte City towards the headwaters of the High Sao Francisco Basin, at Canastra National Park, southern of Minas Gerais State, stopping at Tres Marias Dam. The original plan included one week more on boat to observe the Sao Francisco River catchment from Januaria city (Northern Minas Gerais State) to Tres Marias city, but it was cancelled because the low flow and river siltation didn't allowed the boats to sail from Januaria to Pirapora during that period.

The field trip consisted of:

• Gauge visiting: with the Civil Eng. Antonio Jose Machado from CEMIG, we drove around 1200 km, leaving from Belo Horizonte city towards the Tres Marias Reservoir and the Sao Francisco headwaters at Canastra National Park. We visited four fluvial and sediment gauges located at four tributaries upstream of the Tres Marias Reservoir: Porto Indaia station at Indaia River, Porto Andorinhas station at Sao Francisco River, Porto Mesquita station at Paraopeba River, Porto Para station at Para River. Plus 2 fluvial gauges (see map), Tres Marias station at Sao Francisco river downstream the dam, and other at Abaete River, Sao Francisco River's tributary.
• Drainage Area observation: by taking pictures, identifying sensitive areas: land use, erosion, landslide, deforestation etc.

Results

"From the Canastra Mountains to the Tres Marias (reservoir), where it is not eucalyptus plantation and coal industry, it is sugar cane plantation or cattle grazzing."

Cappio, L et alli, Rio Sao Francisco, uma caminhada entre vida e morte, 1995

The main results are still in analyses. Basically, the collected material can be categorized as some maps and references, tables and pictures.

References collected

• Sain-Hilaire, August. "Viagem `as nascentes do Rio Sao Francisco" , Editora da Universidade de Sao Paulo, 1975
• Aneel, MMA, "Recursos Hidricos e o desenvolvimento sustentavel", Brasilia,1999
• MME, "Legislacao Ambiental de Interesse do Setor eletrico" , Brasilia, 1999
• Aneel, MMA, "O estado das Aguas no Brasil", Brasilia, 1999
• PLANVASF, "Diagnostico Sedimentologico na Bacia do Sao Francisco" , report, Brasilia 1986
• MMA, "Plano de desenvolvimento sustentavel da bacia do rio Sao Francisco e do semi-arido nordestino", Projeto Semi Arido, relatorio tecnico, sintese. Brasilia, 1998
• MME, "Diagnostico das Condicoes Sedimentologicas dos principais rios brasileiros", second edition, Brasilia 1998
• Silveira, C. A. C., " Previsao de Volumes de Espera em tempo-Real para Usina Hidreletrica de Sobradinho". IPH, Rio Grande do Sul, 1996
• Cappio, Frei Luis F., Martins, A. Kirchner, R. " Rio Sao Francisco: Uma caminhada entre vida e morte". Vozes Ed., 1995
• Aneel, "Vulnerabilidade Climatica e recursos hidricos no Nordeste brasileiro", Brasilia, 1999

Data collected:

Rain records from six gauges, fluvial records and sediment data from four gauges (the sediment data are not available yet); maps; and almost 200 shots (using a digital camera Minolta 400) of the main gauges, land use and erosion on the landscape and rivers bank.

---