Acuífero Guaraní
The Acuífero Guaraní (so Spanish ; Portuguese Aquífero Guarani , formerly Aqüífero Guarani ) in South America is an aquifer over 1,200,000 square kilometers under the settlement area of the Guaraní Indians .
geography
The aquifer is closely linked to the river and lake system of the Cuenca del Plata . Therefore, there is a risk of salt water intrusion . The main water abstraction zone is located in the Triple Frontera border triangle .
In detail, the natural water reservoir is distributed across the following countries
- Brazil - 840,000 km² (~ 70% of the total area)
- Argentina - 225,500 km² (~ 19% of the total area)
- Paraguay - 71,700 km² (~ 6% of the total area)
- Uruguay - 58,500 km² (~ 5% of the total area)
Economical meaning
The freshwater lying between 50 and 1,500 meters deep is one of the three largest reserves of freshwater in the entire world. The economic interests in the development and future exploitation of the reserves are correspondingly strong . Some of the projects in the direction of water privatization - for the benefit of multinational corporations such as GDF Suez , Bechtel Corporation and Thames Water - were also financed by the World Bank . At the same time, the quality of the natural groundwater is endangered by the introduction of pesticides, including from soybean cultivation , so that active water protection is required. For this purpose, the forest company Weyerhaeuser is planning to reforest the previous pasture land with eucalyptus or pine trees for cellulose production .
literature
- Maude Barlow, Tony Clarke: Blue Gold - The Global Water Business . From the American version of the Druck-Reif collective. Verlag Antje Kunstmann, Munich 2004, ISBN 978-3-88897-375-8
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Acuífero Guaraní: An Underground Treasure
- ↑ a b Focus on Latin America: The blue gold of the Guaraní . WDR5, Doc 5. March 20, 2010. Archived from the original on March 23, 2010. Retrieved on March 10, 2014.
- ↑ Aquifer Guarani - South America's blue treasure on SWR2 knowledge