The state of São Paulo, like Brazil, is served by many rivers. Note on the following map the seven watersheds that drain the São Paulo lands according to the strands.
São Paulo State Hydrographic Basin
Sanderlei Silveira ® - 2023-09-20T17:02-03:00 - US L
The state of São Paulo, like Brazil, is served by many rivers. Note on the following map the seven watersheds that drain the São Paulo lands according to the strands.
São Paulo State Hydrographic Basin
A river and many landscapes
Rio Tietê-Sao Paulo
Navigating the Tietê River: from source to mouth
Look for the Tietê River on the map and the area that your watershed occupies.
You realized that it is very extensive, with 1 100 km long. Its source is in the municipality of Salesópolis, about 840 m altitude in Serra do Mar. At the site of the source of the Tietê River, the Tietê River Park was created to protect and preserve the vegetation and the river springs.
Tietê river source in Salesópolis, Serra do Mar.
The Tietê River crosses several locations. It bathes 62 municipalities and crosses the state all the southeast direction until it finds the Paraná River. The Tietê River is a tributary of the Paraná River.
But why does the river make this path and not another, if it is only 22 km from the coast? If you replied that it is because of the relief, you got it right!
The waters travel the ground from a higher level to another lower. The Tietê River is born in the mountainous relief of Serra do Mar, in the West (Western) slope, and goes down to ever lower land until it finds its mouth in the low lands of the Paraná River.
That is why the relief has a great influence on the watershed of a place, as it is the one that determines the limits between the basins, establishing water dividers and also to which direction these waters go.
The slope between the water divider and the main river through which the tributaries run is called strand.
Slope - Slope between the water divider and the main river
The slope between the water divider and the main river through which the tributaries run is called strands.
Following its course, the river crosses the metropolitan region of São Paulo and for many decades has been receiving urban sewage discharge and industrial waste from more than 30 municipalities in the region. So at some points the Tietê River is totally polluted. The waters of polluted rivers, besides the bad smell, cause diseases to the population such as: diarrhea, hepatitis, typhoid fever, respiratory disease, among others.
Aerial view of the Tietê River, in the stretch where it was channeled by crossing the Metropolitan Region of SP.
Aerial view of the Tietê River, in the stretch where it was channeled by crossing the metropolitan region of sp.
In the municipality of São Paulo, the Tietê River is bordered by the Tietê Marginal Express Road which, together with Marginal Pinheiros, makes up the city's main road system. On the banks of the marginal road, the river was all channeled, a resource used to avoid the constant floods that occurred in the area.
Floods or floods are natural phenomena of transabling river water in periods of intense and continuous rainfall, but are aggravated by human interference such as: occupation of river margins, soil waterproofing, riparian forest, siltation and accumulation of garbage thrown in the rivers.
According to the Environmental Sanitation Technology Company (Cetesb), 36% of Tietê pollution originates from trash thrown on the streets, which is taken by rainfall to manholes, streams and ends in Rio.
The accumulation of pollutants in the water, especially domestic detergents, causes the appearance of foams in the river near the Pirapora do Bom Jesus dam.
In the municipality of Pirapora do Bom Jesus, the waters of the Tietê River have foams.
in the municipality of Pirapora do Bom Jesus, the waters of the Tietê river have foams.
Following its route in the interior, the river receives more aggressions from agriculture: pesticides, which are carried by rainwater, and the vinker dumped by some plants of alcohol and sugar.
In the most central route of the state and with the contribution of tributaries and rainfall, the quality of the water of the Tietê River improves, as you can see in the tourist city of Barra Bonita, located on the banks of the river, where it is the oldest Latin America Eclusa, which allows the navigation and displacement of goods to the Paraná River, a circulation known as Tietê-Paraná waterway.
View of the Tietê River in the municipality of Barra Bonita.
The Eclusa, built on the Tietê River in Barra Bonita, allows the vessels to win the 26 -meter -high unevenness that was created with the construction of the hydroelectric plant.
The Eclusa, built on the Tietê River in Barra Bonita
Throughout the Tietê River, as well as other rivers from São Paulo, several hydroelectric plants were built, such as three brothers in the municipalities of Andradina and Pereira Barreto, 28 km from the confluence with the Paraná River.
Thus, we reached the end of our navigation through Rio, in the municipality of Itapura, in the confluence of the Tietê River with the Paraná River.
Glossary
Riparian forest: native vegetation cover that borders rivers, lakes and springs. The vegetation protects the soil from erosion and when the riparian forests are removed, with the action of the rains, the sediments (disaggregated soil) are transported to the rivers causing their siltation.
Bottle: When the rivers have their beds occupied by soils carried by the rains, leaving their bed more shallow which can generate overflows.
Vinhoto: Shepherd and smelly residue left after the distillation of fermented sugarcane stock, to obtain fuel alcohol. For each liter of alcohol produced 12 liters of vinhoto are discarded as residue, and if thrown into the rivers is a serious source of pollution. Vinhoto can be used as fertilizer or biogas production.
Eclusa: It acts as a kind of elevator for vessels to cross the unevenness of a river course interrupted by dams. They come in a behavior that closes and fills or empties until it is at the same level as the watercourse enabling the browsing to continue.