Brazil's and Bolivia's foreign ministers to discuss Madeira river overflow

Bolivian Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca has announced a meeting with Brazil's Luiz Alberto Figueiredo on April 7 to discuss the Madeira river overflow and the controversy over the role the Santo Antônio and Jirau hydroelectric plants may have played on floods in the Bolivian Amazon.

According to the Bolivian Information Agency (ABI), Choquehuanca said that a Bolivian commission came last week to discuss the situation with Brazilian authorities, with the two countries agreeing to create a bilateral commission to address concerns around the impact of the plants on the Bolivian territory.

Rainfalls and flooding have been going on continually since September, leaving 60 people dead and causing losses to 60,000 households in Bolivia. In Brazil, over 2,000 households are sheltered in Porto Velho, capital of Rondônia, and other locations.

Brazil's Geological Survey (CPRM), responsible for monitoring the flow of the Madeira river, has determined that the activity of the Santo Antônio and Jirau power plants located on the river has no influence on its flow. “There is no evidence that the plants' operations have been of any consequence to the floods. Note that these are run-of-the-river kind of plants, so they don't store water. There are minimum and maximum-level standards in place for the plants and they have been consistently observed. All incoming water will merely flow by,” explained CPRM's Head of Water Resources and Land Management, Thales Sampaio. He maintains that what is causing the Madeira river overflow is excessive rainfall in Bolivia where the headwaters are located. “It has been raining above average since October in Bolivia, especially in January and February,” he argued.

* Based on information from the Agencia Boliviana de Información.

Translated by Mayra Borges