25 years ago, in October 1982, the planet´s greatest waterfall was drowned, a victim of the filling of Itaipu Reservoir (Brazil/Paraguay). The so-called "Seven Falls of Guaíra", or "Sete Quedas", in reality a series of 18 waterfalls, were at 114 meters in height not the world´s tallest falls, but they were easily the most powerful in volume, with more than double the flow of Niagara Falls and 12 times the flow over Victoria Falls.
The Seven Falls were formed where the Paraná River, after crossing the red sandstone Mbaracayú Mountains, was forced through canyon walls and narrowed abruptly from a width of 1,250 feet to 200 feet.The Encyclopedia Britanica said "the water bubbles in a deafening crescendo which can be heard 20 miles away". Or, as another source of essential information put it, "at 1,750,000 cubic ft./sec., it would fill the Capital dome in Washington, D.C. in 3/5 of a second".
The drowning of the Falls was foretold by another tragedy. In January, 1982, only a few months before the falls were slated to disappear, a bridge over the Paraná River gorge collapsed, sending 80 people to their death. The cause - a flood of tourists wishing to say good-bye to the falls, and inadequate maintenance of the bridges, given their imminent demise.
The Guaíra Falls National Park was liquidated by decree of the Brazilian military government, as was its Paraguayan counterpart. The Brazilian government later dynamited the rock face of the submerged falls to eliminate obstacles to navigation, thus destroying any hope that they could be restored to life in the future.
José Costa Cavalcanti, director-general of the bi-national company building Itaipu had said "We´re not destroying Seven Falls. We´re just going to transfer it to Itaipu Dam, whose spillway will be a substitute for its beauty". And, with 647,000 visitors last year, Itaipu Dam is indeed a popular tourist attraction. But 1.08 million people visited the nearby Iguassu Falls despite the fact that for several months upstream dams reduced it to a trickle, meaning that at least for tourists, nature still outscores technology.
Do these "fluvial monuments" have a right to exist, to be admired and revered? Or are they doomed to be targets for the world´s dam builders, to be blasted away like the rocks of the Seven Falls for "progress"?
Carlos Drummond de Andrade, the aging Brazilian poet penned a requiem to the Seven Falls: "...seven ghosts murdered by the hand of man, owner of the planet...Seven falls passed us by, and we didn´t know, ah, we didn´t know how to love them, and all seven were killed, and all seven disappeared into thin air, seven ghosts, seven crimes of the living taking a life never again to be reborn".
E o comentário de um visitante:
My letter to Itaipu Binacional
Dear Ladies and Sirs, As a tourist visitor, I visited Your hydroenergetic plant some 2 weeks ago. I was told a nice story about ecology etc., without mentioning that the damm submerged the Guaíra Falls. I was told it by my fellow travellers on my return to the hotel. And I found the interesting story on this issue while at home in my homecountry. There is something called ethical conduct and ethical code. I perceive to be deeply manipulated by the presentation and the informative content given to foreign tourist at the spot. The story on the submerged waterfalls is rather known and repeated in popular guide books. I suppose that many of visitors treat the content repeated by Your employees as a sort of propaganda. I treat it as a eco-washing. Yours faithfully, Adam Fularz, Poland.
Cara Miriam,
ResponderEliminarsobre o texto acima, realmente a perda de 7 Quedas é algo inimaginável e que nunca será inteiramente reparado, por melhores que sejam as ações ambientais da Itaipu. Mas nunca ouvi falar que as quedas tenham sido dinamitadas para facilitar a navegação. Perguntei sobre isso na empresa e até onde pude verificar, essa informação não procede.
Recebemos o e-mail do sr. Adam Fularz, que vc reproduziu, e lhe escrevemos a resposta que segue abaixo. Infelizmente, não conseguimos localizar o e-mail originalmente enviado por ele. Ao fazer uma busca no google, topei com o seu blog. Se possível, vc poderia, por favor, enviar o endereço de e-mail dele para imprensa@itaipu.gov.br, para que possamos responde-lo?
Agradeço desde já pela atenção,
Romeu de Bruns
Assessoria de Imprensa - Itaipu Binacional
Dear Mr Adam Fularz,
First of all, we at Itaipu Binacional would like to thank you for your visit and your interest on environmental issues.
Being one of the largest hydroelectric powerplants ever built, Itaipu had a huge impact on its surroundings during its construction, including the disappearance of "7 Quedas" (7 Falls). The construction, by the way, happened during the 70's, when Brazil was under a military regime. At that time, the concern with the environment were not the same as we have today. Nevertheless, many measures were taken to compensate and minimize the environmental impact, such as the operation to rescue animals and the conservation of forests along the river banks. To have an idea, the amount of acres of forests that Itaipu preserves is equivalent to the amount of acres that were flooded to form the reservoir.
Of course, 7 Quedas was a huge loss for the region, but it is not completely lost. In 150 or 200 years, when the reservoir will be depleted, the waters will go down, and the Falls are going to be there again. Also, the memory of 7 Quedas is preserved by the company, in books and in photo exhibitions.
Itaipu is conscious of the environmental impacts of its construction. But that damage ceased once the construction was over. Nowadays, due to huge environmental issues that mankind is facing on a planetary scale, Itaipu can be an agent of transformation, promoting sustainability on the watershed where it is located, and fostering environmental awareness among people on the surrounding communities.
The environmental actions of Itaipu are internationally recognized and many of them are taken as references for the construction of new hydroelectric powerplants, such as the Canal da Piranema, which allows fishes to migrate along the river.
Furthermore, hydroelectricity is a renewable energy and its usage avoids the daily consumption of 4.4 million barrels of oil worldwide.
If want to know more about our social and environmental program, called Cultivating Good Water, we would be happy to inform you. Please, send us your address and we will send you detailed information by mail.
Best regards,
Nelton Friedrich
Environmental and Coordination Director - Itaipu Binacional.
ah, outra coisa: a foto acima é das Cataratas do Iguaçu e não das 7 Quedas.
ResponderEliminar