Amazon communities worry about livelihoods as water levels fall further

By Bruno Kelly

HUMAITA, Brazil (Reuters) - Brazilians living near the Madeira River, a major waterway that runs through the Amazon rainforest, have been watching its water levels drop to historic lows this year as the area is reeling from a drought.

The country's geological service, SGB, has warned that all rivers in the Amazon basin are expected to drop below their historical levels.

"There are many older residents here that have never seen the river like this," said Nelmo Maia Melo, a 57-year-old fisherman. "Even my father, who's been here for a long time, has never seen it like this."

With no rainfall forecast for the region, SGB said that projections indicate water levels should continue to fall, further worsening the water crisis in the region.

Across the region, communities are facing increased isolation because rivers with lower water levels become more difficult to navigate.

Not only does it become harder to travel but communities living off fishing or relying on the river for supplying water for their crops have their livelihoods put at risk.

"It hurts the plantations," said resident Andreza Galdino da Rocha. "It causes various problems because plantations are one of the main sources of income of those who live near the river - the other one being fishing, and fish are also disappearing."

Unlike in other years, the waters of the Pacific have not cooled as expected, which, combined with the lack of rain last year, has led to what researchers have called a catastrophic situation in the Amazon.

The low water levels could also cause problems for commodities traders that use waterways in the region to export soybeans and corn produced in the center-west states such as Mato Grosso, Brazil's number one grains grower.

Those companies could be forced to reroute loading to southern ports, increasing costs and potentially delaying shipments.

(Reporting by Bruno Kelly in Humaita and Labrea, Brazil; writing by Stefanie Eschenbacher; editing by Jonathan Oatis)