Where does the Iguassu River come from?

Piraquara City Gov't Photo - The Iguaçu River's many sources come from the montains seen in this picture. The bus travels from the foothills to downtown Curitiba in less than half an hour along the length of Avenida Getúlio Vargas.

There were three questions that I hated the most when I worked as a guide in the Iguassu Falls area back in the late 70s when I was younger and foolish. The first had to do with the geological formation of the Falls. We then learned, as we still do today, that the Falls orginated from a volcano. Which volcano? Where? The second question was which side of Iguassu Falls is more beautiful the Brazilian or the Argentine? Depending on who asked you might be in big trouble. The third was: where does the Iguassu River come from? The answer then was normally what it still is today: the Iguaçu River comes from Curitiba – like the Government. Curitiba is the seat of the Paraná State Government – a Government headquartered at the Palacio Iguaçu (Iguaçu Palace) in the Curitiba’s Civic Center.

I have started this blog to answer the third question. The Iguaçu / Iguazu or Iguassu River orginates from thousands of water springs found on the high flatland (Plateau) on the Western foothill of the Southern Atlantic Mountain Range around the Curitiba Metropolitan Region (RMC). The RMC is made up of 26 cities most of them having something to do with the Iguaçu River but as far as this posting is concerned I will concentrate my efforts on the municipalities located to the East of Curitiba proper and between Curitiba and the Mountain Range.

Piraquara is my focus. The city claims to have catalogued 1.162 springs that form the heart of the Uppermost Iguaçu River Basin – the headwaters of the Iguaçu River which in this area happens to be the basin of the Iraizinho River. Because of such a privilege Piraquara, Piraquara also “houses” the headwaters of several other small river basins like the Piraquara River, the Iraí and the Itaqui rivers which will end up in the Iguaçu River somwhere and somehow downstream. Why do I say somewhere and somehow?

The City Hall (Prefeitura) of Piraquara affirms that 93% of its territory lies within the Headwater Protection Area and that another 7% is Mountain Slope Protection Area. Which means that 100% of the city is compromised with environmental protection. It also means that there are serious restrictions to growth, progress, economic development – as we know them today.

If you look for a good reason for so much protection – all you have to do is to stand on Piraquara's Avenida Getulio Vargas and look westward. You will see Curitiba with its population of 1.7 million sprawling down there. Piraquara is responsible for 50% of the water Curitiba uses to drink, bathe with, flush toilets, wash cars, laundry and so on. Climbing the nearby mountains will reveal the existence of dams or reservoirs of all sizes. Among them the Piraquara I and the Iraí Dam, soon to be joined by Iraquara II, all owned by the partly (half) State-owned water and sewer company called Sanepar. Unlike other dams down river – in the middle and lower Iguaçu, these are not intended to produce the much needed electricity. They are part of the Curitiba Water Supply infrasctructure.

It is only past Piraquara and other municipalites that the Iguaçu River already polluted will be called by this name. I am an Alagoas State-born Brazilian that has been residing in or near the Iguassu Falls since 1977. Sometimes I leave the area in order to let things cool down. I have been involved in several campaign and efforts to save the Iguassu River, to save the Falls, to stop night-lighting at the Falls, to stop helipads being constructed by the Falls and as of lately, the struggle against the privatization of Iguaçu / Iguazú National Parks tourism-linked structures. In the blog I will post photos and texts that are product of my trips along the Iguaçu River from the Sierra and Piraquara down to Iguassu Falls, across lands belonging to the Brazilian states of Paraná and Santa Catarina as well as the Argentine Province of Misiones. Hope you enjoy.