Rio Meia Big shot

The Rio Meia Ponte is one of the principal rivers of the Goiás to the Brésil. Its source is to 50 km in the north of the town of Goiânia and it runs in the city in direction of the south, joining the Rio Paranaíba at the border of the Minas Gerais. Its basin provides water to more than 2 million people, nearly 40% of the population of the State, and a good portion of the economy depends on it.

Meia Ponte receives large quantities of waste industrial and different, and untreated effluents of any kind what strongly reduces the quality of its water. The town of Goiânia pours more than 90% of its refuse untreated in the river. A rough evaluation of water quality downstream from Goiânia indicates that the river has a content very impoverished oxygen dissolves, on a level of 60 km downstream from the city, and thus a capacity limited to support the aquatic life or to give satisfactory water for the agricultural activities.

Moreover annual drynesses of more than six months mean that Meia Ponte cannot supply all the populations which need its water. One must frequently ration the latter in summer. A good news: a project recently was born to try to look after the river and a treatment plant of waste water is in construction with Goiânia.

External bonds

Document of the inter-American Bank of development on the recovery of Meia Big shot

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