In Manaus, drought impacts economy and tourism in the Aleixo Lake

Ívina Garcia – Cenarium Magazine

MANAUS – “In the flood is better, but now without tourism we support ourselves with the fish and charging a real for people to pass here, we got together and the money of the day stays with those who watch the bridge”, says Rui Avelino, who has lived for 20 years in a floating on the Aleixo Lake, located in the East Zone of Manaus, affected by the 2022 ebb.

Located on the border between the neighborhoods Colônia Antônio Aleixo and Comunidade Bela Vista, the Aleixo Lake suffers with the consequences of the ebb, with stretches that reach, at most, 40 centimeters deep. Among the main activities of the residents of the surrounding neighborhoods and the owners of floating houses are tourism and fishing. Residents of the region told CENARIUM on Tuesday, 18, that the lake is located 15 minutes by boat from the most famous postcard of the city: the Meeting of the Waters.

On October 18, 2021, year of the historic flood, the level of the Rio Negro had reached 20.58 meters during the ebb. This Tuesday, 18, a year later, the drought already registers 17.19 meters, about 3.39 meters less than last year.

When the river is full, the transportation of residents and tourists is done by catraieiros, who make their living directly from tourism and small transports. Now, with the ebb tide, small canoes can’t reach the place and the crossing from one neighborhood to the other is made impossible by the waters.

The catraieiro Rui Avelino and other workers are responsible for building a small wooden bridge, which connects the neighborhoods and helps in the supply of water and food to the other floating Aleixo Lake.

Assistance

Without help from the neighborhood presidents or the Municipal Secretariat of Infrastructure of Manaus (Seminf), Rui and his companions decided to build the bridge in July, when the ebb began. Since then, the group of catraieiros charge R$ 1 from whoever passes through the place, and share the profits that used to come from the boat crossing.

“It took us two days to build this bridge and the labor, at the risk of getting hit by a stingray and getting your foot caught in nails and glass that people throw into the river”, explains Rui.

The report team contacted the Municipal Secretariat of Infrastructure of Manaus (Seminf) to ask about the actions that should be applied at the site to help the residents, but so far has not heard back.

Bridge

In the view of Antônio Marcos, one of the catraieiros who also takes care of the bridge toll, the 2022 ebb has been the worst so far. Living for 50 years on the site, Antônio says he is tired of waiting for the public authorities. “We haven’t received a benefit, an aid. This drought happens every year and the government knows it. This year it’s worse, but nothing happens, they don’t take any action”, he says.

According to the catraieiro, during the ebb years of 2021 and 2020, the lake reached 1.5 meters of water, making it still possible to travel by canoe in some stretches. Different from what happened this year.

Infrastructure

Without access to piped water and basic sanitation, the lake dwellers depend on church donations and help from residents of the surrounding neighborhoods. Antônio and Rui say that for more than a month they have lived the routine of walking more than ten minutes to a friend’s house to be able to take a shower and fetch water to drink.

“This brother of mine fetches [water] from above his house for us to drink, he brings ice that we buy from there and we live like this. To take a bath now, we take it at the neighbor’s tap, I climb the stairs and go there, but when the river is full, I used to take it in the river”, explains Rui.

The fishermen also face a walk of at least 15 minutes from the wooden bridge to the place where they fish. Many of them have to pull canoes and carry bags of food through the mud, which in some stretches reaches hip height.

“There are places where the mud is waist high, and we have to pull it up here with the fish. The ebb is very bad because of this, we have been carrying it from far away until here, in the sun”, says Edinei Silva, one of the fishermen who lives in Colônia Antônio Aleixo.

The lack of infrastructure and basic sanitation imply the absence of identification of the owners of floating in the region, they report that the Brazilian Institute of Research and Statistics (IBGE), the Municipal Department of Infrastructure of Manaus (Seminf) and other agencies cross the lake without giving voice to those who live in the place.

“These governors only know how to talk about basic sanitation, but they don’t want to do anything for the people, it’s full of sewage that they throw things into the lake. Once I went to do some registration and the guy wanted the zip code of my street and I said ‘my brother, have you ever seen a floating house with a zip code?’“.