ECOWATER TECHNOLOGIES LTDA

The Hydrographic Region of São Francisco covers 521 municipalities in six states: Bahia, Minas Gerais, Pernambuco, Alagoas, Sergipe and Goiás, as well as the Federal District. At 2,700km, the São Francisco River rises in the Serra da Canastra, in Minas Gerais, and flows south-north through Bahia and Pernambuco, when it changes its course to the Southeast, reaching the Atlantic Ocean on the border between Alagoas and Sergipe. Due to its extension and the different environments that it traverses, the region is divided in High, Medium, Sub-Middle and Low San Francisco.

The drainage area (638.576Km2) occupies 8% of the national territory and its vegetation cover includes fragments of Cerrado in Upper and Middle, Caatinga in the Middle and Submédio and Atlantic Forest in Upper São Francisco, mainly in headwaters. The basin concentrates the largest quantity and diversity of freshwater fish in the Northeast region. The annual average natural flow of the São Francisco river is 2,846 cubic meters per second, but throughout the year it can vary between 1,077m³ / s and 5,290m³ / s.

More than 14.2 million people, equivalent to 7.5% of the country's population, lived in the region in 2010, the majority of whom live in the metropolitan area of ​​Belo Horizonte. Agriculture is one of the most important economic activities, but the region has strong socio-economic contrasts, with areas of marked wealth and high population density and areas of critical poverty and a very dispersed population. Of the 456 municipalities with headquarters in the basin, only 93 treat their sewers.

As a reflection of the main economic activities of the Basin, there is a need for environmental recovery of degraded areas to mitigate impacts on water resources. The region lives in extremes of droughts and floods. The semi-arid, which extrapolates the Basin, is vulnerable and subject to periods of prolonged drought, which have been responsible for exodus from its population. On the other hand, residents of the metropolitan area of ​​Belo Horizonte face frequent floods.

Rich in natural resources, the São Francisco basin is home to a diversity of cultures, historical sites, archaeological sites and important urban centers. All this combined with the immensity of the river and the natural beauties of the region offers great potential for the development of tourism, an activity still in its infancy.

The hydroelectric potential used in the basin is 10,473MW, mainly distributed in the Três Marias, Queimado, Sobradinho, Itaparica, Paulo Afonso Complex and Xingó plants. The Três Marias and Sobradinho reservoirs have a fundamental role in the regularization of the São Francisco flows. One of the major challenges is that the basin registers all types of uses of water resources (irrigation, power generation, navigation, sanitation, fishing and aquaculture, tourism and leisure activities), which requires an analysis of the whole so that properly plan their management.

The growth of agriculture, the intended revitalization of shipping, the increase in energy demand and the withdrawal of water from the basin by transposition are themes that can generate conflicts among the user sectors. In 2005, ANA granted a concession to the São Francisco River Integration Project (Pisf), which provides for two abstractions (North Eixo and Eixo Leste) in São Francisco, to complement the local water supply in Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte, Paraíba and Pernambuco. The capture of the Northern Axis is planned to be implemented in Cabrobó (PE), in the river channel, and the Eixo Leste, in Floresta (PE), in the reservoir of the Itaparica Hydroelectric Plant.