The Meia Ponte River (
Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
, ''Rio Meia Ponte''
) is one of the most important rivers in the state of
Goiás
Goiás () is a Brazilian state located in the Center-West region. Goiás borders the Federal District and the states of (from north clockwise) Tocantins, Bahia, Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso do Sul and Mato Grosso. The state capital is Goiânia. ...
,
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
. Its source lies 60 km north of the city of
Goiânia
Goiânia (; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Goiás. With a population of 1,536,097, it is the second-largest city in the Central-West Region and the 10th-largest in the country. Its metropolitan area has a population ...
and it flows through that city in a southern direction joining the
Paranaíba River
The Paranaíba River is a Brazilian river whose source lies in the state of Minas Gerais in the Mata da Corda mountains, municipality of Rio Paranaíba, at an altitude of 1,148 meters; on the other face of this mountain chain are the sources of t ...
just downriver of
Cachoeira Dourada Dam
Cachoeira (Portuguese, meaning waterfall) is an inland municipality of Bahia, Brazil, on the Paraguaçu River. The town exports sugar, cotton, and tobacco and is a thriving commercial and industrial centre.
The municipality contains 56% of the ...
. The Paranaíba River marks the border between the states of Goiás and
Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...
. The Meia Ponte's basin furnishes water for 2 million people, fifty percent of the population of the state, and a large part of the economy depends on it.
The Meia Ponte receives great amounts of garbage,
industrial waste
Industrial waste is the waste produced by industrial activity which includes any material that is rendered useless during a manufacturing process such as that of factories, mills, and mining operations. Types of industrial waste include dirt and ...
, and untreated sewage greatly reducing the quality of its waters. The city of Goiânia dumps over 90% of its untreated sewage into the river.
A preliminary evaluation of water quality downstream from Goiânia indicates that the river has a stretch of 60 kilometers below Goiânia with low levels of dissolved oxygen and therefore a limited capacity to sustain aquatic life or provide conditions for agricultural activity.
In addition, the dry summers last up to six months, which means that the Meia Ponte cannot supply all the population that depends on its water. Rationing in the summer is common. Recently a project was initiated to try to recover this important river and a sewage treatment plant is under construction in Goiânia.
See also
*
Tributaries of the Río de la Plata
A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage ...
References
External links
Document of the Interamerican Development Bank on the cleaning of the Meia Ponte
Rivers of Goiás
{{Goiás-river-stub