National Water Agency declares critical situation on the Madeira River due to drought in the North

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The measure is valid until November 30th and may be extended. Declaration allows adoption of new rules and charging of fees to cover extra costs. River dwellers have difficulty navigating the Amazon River due to severe drought in the North. The National Water and Basic Sanitation Agency (ANA) approved this Monday (9) a critical situation of water shortage in the Madeira River, due to the drought in the region. North. The measure is valid until November 30th and may be extended. The declaration allows measures to be adopted to prevent and mitigate impacts. In addition, the agency will be able to determine new rules for water use and reservoir operation. The measure also authorizes regulatory agencies and sanitation companies to charge fees to cover additional costs arising from water scarcity, in addition to alerting states and municipalities to activate contingency plans. The dry period in the Amazon region extends from May to October, when there is a transition to the rainy period, from November to April. However, the climate phenomenon El Niño intensified the dry period, reducing the water level of the Madeira River to the lowest in the historical series, which is 57 years old. “We observed that this anomaly in surface temperatures in the central equatorial Pacific region, which has already reached 1.7 degrees [Celsius] in addition to the expected average value, it already characterizes a strong El Niño. And the consequence of this is above-average rainfall in the South region and below-average rainfall in the North and Northeast regions”, declared ANA director Mauricio Abijaodi. According to the director, the increase in the temperature of the Atlantic Ocean has also intensified the phenomenon, leading to situations of water scarcity or excess rainfall. According to the ANA technical area, the effects of El Niño are expected to persist in the region until the months of February, March and April 2024, which will keep rainfall below average over the Madeira River basin in the coming months. The Madeira is an important river for transporting passengers and cargo, with a navigable stretch that extends from Porto Velho (RO) to Itacoatiara (AM). Furthermore, the Jirau and Santo Antônio hydroelectric plants were built on the waters of the Madeira. Together, the two plants represent 6.7% of the installed power of the interconnected electrical system. On October 2, the National Electric System Operator (ONS) announced the suspension of the operation of the Santo Antônio hydroelectric plant due to the drought. The plant was built run-of-the-river, meaning it has little or no water reservoir, depending on the flow of the river to generate energy. On the 4th, the Electrical Sector Monitoring Committee (CMSE) recognized that the crisis in the Madeira River basin could compromise service to the states of Acre and Rondônia, due to the stoppage of the Santo Antônio plant. On that occasion, CMSE authorized the contracting of two thermoelectric plants, Termonorte 1 and Termonorte 2, to supply energy to the states. “As for consumptive uses — irrigation, sanitation, industry — we understand that the risk is low of non-compliance due to quantitative water unavailability. What could happen is that the mechanisms for water capture must be adapted to be able to capture water”, declared the superintendent of Water Resources Regulation at ANA, Marco José Melo Neves. The first time that ANA declared a “critical situation of quantitative scarcity of water resources” was in the Paraná River basin, in 2021. At that time, due to the lack of rain, the country went through a water and energy crisis.

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