Key Facts about Paraguay River

About Paraguay River:

• It is the fifth largest river in South America.
• It runs over a course of approximately 1,584 miles (2,549 kilometers) from its headwaters in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso (within the Brazilian Highlands) to its confluence with the Paraná River, of which it is the main tributary, just north of Corrientes, Argentina.
• It runs through Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Argentina.
• The river serves as a natural boundary, particularly between Paraguay and Brazil and between Paraguay and Argentina.
• The Pantanal, one of the most pristine and biologically rich environments on the planet, is contained within the Upper Paraguay River Basin.
  • Pantanal is the world’s largest tropical wetland. 
• The Paraguay, along with the Paraná and Uruguay Rivers, form the second most important drainage system in the world, which covers approximately 1.6 million square miles.
• These empty into the Rio de la Plata estuary at a rate of 2.8 million cubic feet of water per second, an outflow second only to that of the Amazon River. Thereafter, the rivers empty into the Atlantic Ocean.

Q1: What is an estuary?

An estuary is an area where a freshwater river or stream meets the ocean. In estuaries, the salty ocean mixes with a freshwater river, resulting in brackish water. Brackish water is somewhat salty, but not as salty as the ocean. An estuary may also be called a bay, lagoon, sound, or slough.

Source: Paraguay river registers its lowest water level in more than a century at Asunción