The Paraopeba River is a river in the state of

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 ...

, Brazil. In the Tupi language "Para" means "great river or sea," and "peba" means "flat," together meaning "flat river". The source of the river is situated south of the municipality of

Cristiano Otoni Cristiano Otoni is a Brazilian municipality located in the state of Minas Gerais. The city belongs to the mesoregion Metropolitana de Belo Horizonte and to the microregion of Conselheiro Lafaiete. As of 2020, the estimated population was 5,1 ...

, Minas Gerais. The mouth is at the

Três Marias Dam The Três Marias Dam, also known as Bernardo Mascarenhas, is an embankment dam on the São Francisco River near Três Marias in Minas Gerais, Brazil. It was constructed for hydroelectric power production and flood control. The dam was completed ...

in the municipality of

Felixlândia Felixlândia is a Brazilian municipality located in the northeast of the state of Minas Gerais. Its population was 15,433 living in a total area of . The city belongs to the statistical mesoregion of Central Mineira and to the statistical micror ...

in the same state. The length of the river is and its basin covers an area of and 35 municipalities. The most important tributaries are the

Macaúba River The Macaúba River is a river of Minas Gerais state in southeastern Brazil. See also * List of rivers of Minas Gerais References Mapfrom Ministry of Transport A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transport ...

, the Camapuã River and the

Manso River (Minas Gerais) The Manso River is a river in Minas Gerais state in southeastern Brazil, located southeast of Belo Horizonte, the state capital. The Manso River also runs through the countries of Argentina and Chile where whitewater rafting is a popular recreatio ...

. The Paraopeba River is one of the most important tributaries of the

São Francisco River The São Francisco River (, ) is a large river in Brazil. With a length of , it is the longest river that runs entirely in Brazilian territory, and the fourth longest in South America and overall in Brazil (after the Amazon, the Paraná and t ...

, ensuring the yearlong navigability of that river.Minas Gerais. Instituto Mineiro de Gestão das Águas (IGAM). ''Estudos das Metas De Qualidade Bacia Hidrográfica do Rio Paraopeba (2005)''. Disponível em: <>. Acessado em 27 de setembro de 2008. On 25 January 2019, the Brumadinho dam collapsed, resulting in exceedingly high heavy mineral levels, with hundreds of times the nominal levels of copper. These high levels left 120 kilometers (75 mi) of the river ecosystem incredibly toxic, leading to it being called a "dead river". High levels of lead and chromium where also found in the 20 kilometers (12 mi) nearest to the collapse.

References

''Detailed Basin map (in Portuguese)''
Rivers of Minas Gerais {{MinasGerais-river-stub