The Paraná River is probably the most important river in Argentina and the second most important in South America, second only to the Amazon. This river in total travels 4880 km originating in the south of Brazil, passing through the east of Paraguay, crossing the north-center of Argentina and ending in the great Río de la Plata. From 2020 until today, the river has experienced a gradual decrease in depth and flow not seen since 1944, constituting the second historical downspout since it has been recorded. The average flow of the same during history is approximately 17000 cubic meters per second, in October of this year it was 7000 cubic meters per second.

Why is this happening?

Although the Paraná River is characterized by having minimums and maximums and not being a river with a stable flow, a downspout of these characteristics has never been seen, and this drop has a sad, but real explanation. The cause of all this is deforestation, but how is it related? The relationship that exists is that the Paraná River is born from the union of various rivers and streams that flow south from the Amazon and also receives rainfall that comes from that great jungle. The deforestation that is close to reaching (10%) of this forest since 2000, causes that there are fewer trees that absorb the water vapor from the Atlantic Ocean, this water vapor is then released into the environment and forms precipitation that they hydraulically feed the Amazon and the tributaries of the Paraná River.

What are the consequences?

The consequences of this environmental event are countless and incalculable but in this case I will name 3 of the biggest problems:

1: Economic losses: The Paraná river together with the Paraguay river constitute the Paraná-Paraguay waterway that serves as an exit route for all the grains of the region (Argentina, Paraguay, southern Brazil and southern Bolivia). Taking into account that Argentina is characterized by being an agro-exporting country, mainly soy, corn, wheat, oats, among others. The shallow waters of the Paraná harm the cargo capacity of the ships since it has been reduced, which makes transportation more expensive and causes many producers to transport their grains by trucks to ports located in the Atlantic Ocean, which is less measure generates an environmental impact. Last year Argentine producers lost 250 million dollars for the downspout and this year the losses already exceed 600 million dollars.

2: Loss of habitat: The downspout of the Paraná causes this river to no longer feed various streams, lagoons and swamps, which today are totally dry, this causes many species of fish, algae, river crustaceans and microorganisms to die and lose their habitats. It also causes many waters to become stagnant, creating the ideal environment for algae and non-native and harmful aquatic plants to grow and proliferate.

3: Drinking water: The Paraná River runs through 7 of the 24 provinces of Argentina and provides water to thousands of people, today many of the water intakes were above the river level and have had to be adapted. It should be noted that although river water by itself is not suitable for immediate consumption due to its abundance, it is treated in water treatment plants before consumption, however, the downspout of the river affects the processes of purification and distribution of this water in hundreds of homes, mainly in the province of Santa Fe.

Conclusion:

After reading and researching about the history of the Paraná River, the causes and consequences of its historical downspout, I believe that this downspout is part of the natural cycle of the river, but it is being seriously aggravated by deforestation in the Amazon and by other phenomena that are part of climate change. Today the Paraná River calls us, it is a living scene that unsustained deforestation in the Amazon and in the entire region must be stopped sharply. In environmental terms it is always said that we have time to stop, today unfortunately it is not known if there is time to recover what used to be the Paraná River.