MANAUS, Brazil (AP) — Drought is ravaging Brazil’s Amazon rainforest, with some rivers dropping to historic lows. Images from one of the Amazon’s major tributaries, the Negro River, show how dramatically water levels are falling.
When The Associated Press photographed the Negro River and surrounding areas in late June and early July, it was nearly 27 meters (88.5 feet) deep at the port in Manaus. In just three months, it has nearly halved, to 13.9 meters (45.6 feet) on Thursday.
If the rate of decline continues, the Negro will within a week break the record for the lowest level in 122 years of monitoring. The record was set last year, but toward the end of October.
The Negro River drains about 10% of the Amazon basin and is the sixth largest in the world by volume of water. Manaus, the largest city in the rainforest, is where the Negro flows into the Amazon River, which in Brazil is called the Solimoes River upstream.
Riverine communities around Manaus and elsewhere in the Amazon have been left stranded. Authorities have distributed drinking water and water purification systems. Passenger boats and supply ships have struggled to navigate the shallows. The Amazonas state fisheries federation has warned that restricted access to nearby traditional fishing grounds is threatening their livelihoods, reducing supplies of the region’s staple food and driving up prices. The cost of bottled water and other goods in remote areas has also risen.
Water levels in Brazil’s Amazon always rise and fall with its rainy and dry seasons — but not like this. At this time of year, the Negro River should still be about 70 feet (21 meters) deep at the port of Manaus, according to the country’s geological survey. And all the major rivers are at critical levels, with the most dramatic drop being the Madeira River, the Amazon’s longest tributary.
On Monday, water levels at the monitoring site in the city of Porto Velho fell to just 25 centimeters (about 10 inches), a record since measurements began in 1967 and more than 3 meters below the historical average for that day. The following day, water levels rose, but only slightly, and rivers are expected to remain low well into October.
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Biller reported from Rio de Janeiro.
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