Amazon rivers falling faster as El Niño intensifies
Across the Amazon, rivers serve as transportation arteries for communities, municipalities and entire supply chains.
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Aug. 27 (UPI) -- Major rivers across the Amazon region are experiencing an alarming decline in water levels because of the effects of El Niño, threatening to isolate hundreds of riverside communities and disrupt river transportation weeks earlier than expected.
Across the region, the water crisis is exposing the vulnerability of the Amazon basin, prompting Peru and Brazil to implement contingency measures.
Peru's National Service of Meteorology and Hydrology, known as Senamhi, reported Thursday that water levels in the main Amazon rivers in the Loreto region are declining progressively and rapidly.
The climate anomaly, intensified by El Niño, has prompted authorities to closely monitor major river basins, including the Amazon, Marañón, Ucayali and Huallaga, where water levels are well below historical averages for this time of year.
Senamhi experts warned that a lack of rainfall is causing water levels to fall by several centimeters per day. Such conditions typically occur toward the end of the year, but have arrived significantly earlier this year because of unusually warm Pacific Ocean temperatures.
Water levels in the Amazon rivers will continue to decline progressively "until mid-September" before fluctuating and beginning to recover in November and December, "although predominantly remaining below normal levels," Senamhi said.
The effects already are being felt in the local economy and supply chains. Emerging sandbars are making navigation increasingly difficult for large vessels that supply Iquitos and communities throughout Loreto.
Across the Amazon, rivers serve as transportation arteries for communities, municipalities and entire supply chains.
Major rivers across the Amazon region are experiencing an alarming decline in water levels because of the effects of El Niño, (Photo Credit: Paolo Aguilar/EPA)
When water levels fall too low, navigation becomes more difficult, potentially disrupting the transportation of passengers, food, medicine and fuel.
In Brazil, authorities have focused on logistical and economic preparations to prevent the accelerated decline of Amazon tributaries from isolating thousands of riverside communities well before the peak of the dry season.
Water levels fell more rapidly this week in several rivers, dropping by as much as 5 1/2 inches in 24 hours, local news outlet BNC reported.
During the first 10 days of August, the Negro River near Manaus, the largest tributary on the northern side of the Amazon River, fell nearly 23 inches, to about 87.8 feet. That decline was about 9.4 inches, greater than during the same period last year, indicating an unusually rapid drop in water levels.
Brazil's National Waterway Transportation Agency said conditions so far do not indicate that 2026 will match or surpass the historic droughts of 2023 and 2024.
However, declining Amazon river levels have prompted shipping companies to announce surcharges on cargo traveling to or from the port of Manaus. Such increases typically affect local supply chains and can raise prices for essential consumer goods, including cleaning products, bottled water and meat, Portal A Crítica reported.
A vulnerability study of the Amazon basin published in the journal Nature found that more than 1,300 Indigenous villages and 1,800 rural communities in Brazil are located more than 3 miles from any road but within 3 miles of a river. When water levels fall sharply, those communities can become completely isolated from food and medical supplies.
Official statistics show that 51 Indigenous peoples live in Peru's Amazon region, organized across more than 2,700 officially recognized Indigenous communities.
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