Brazil River Dispute Highlights Larger Issue

Brazil's most hotly contested public conflicts today are often about water.

President Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva says hydro-electric energy is a sine qua non for the development of South America's biggest economy. But environmental and indigenous groups increasingly oppose massive engineering projects.

The proposal to divert part of Brazil's mighty Sao Francisco River to the vast drought-prone Northeast epitomizes the debate.

No other river, the Amazon included, has such a hold on the imagination of Brazilians. "Old Chico," as the Sao Francisco River is affectionately, called has been immortalized in folklore and celebrated at Carnival.

Now, this legendary river is at the center of one of Brazil's most ambitious infrastructure schemes to divert some of its waters to the impoverished northeast. The rural areas there are Brazil's poorest, according to the World Bank. But critics variously assail the $2.3 billion venture as a boondoggle, an environmental nightmare, and a vanity project.

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