Brazil studies aquifer three times larger than the Guarani Aquifer

A new and recent discovery has extended the power of Brazil when it comes to water availability: the Amazon Aquifer, a groundwater reservoir, which Brazil shares with Ecuador, Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia and Peru.

Its length is nearly four million km², and it is constituted by the formations of aquifers Solimões, Içá and Alter do Chão. With a length three times greater than the Guarani Aquifer, the Amazon Aquifer is a hydrogeologic connection, with large hydropower potential, but still not very well known.

Studies carried out so far show that the chemical quality of water in the Amazon Aquifer System is good. However, there is a risk of contamination due to the fact that, in some areas, the water level is shallow and due to the high potential for contamination caused by poorly constructed wells, absence/inadequacy of sanitary protection and lack of sanitation.

Besides the Amazon and the Guarani aquifers, Brazil has many other systems across borders, all with little or sometimes no information about them. The most studied so far is the Guarani Aquifer, with more than one million square kilometers, which the country shares with Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.

In Brazil, the Guarani Aquifer covers the states of Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul, Minas Gerais, São Paulo, Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul. Its accumulated volume of 33 cubic kilometers of water is considered of vital importance for economic activities and for leisure.

Currently, more than 500 Brazilian cities are supplied, in whole or in part, by the waters of the Guarani Aquifer, whose waters are of excellent quality for domestic and industrial use, as well as for irrigation, as temperatures remain above 30°C and can reach 68ºC, ideal for the development of resorts and even to be used in agribusiness.

To manage all this natural wealth, Brazil created and is implementing the National Water Resources Plan, which sets guidelines for the rational use of water and for public policies that have an interaction with the management of water resources in the country.