Women from the Campo del Cielo community upload photographs of the Pilcomayo River and share them with each other and experts to monitor flooding. Photo by Nanum Centers.
The Pilcomayo River frequently floods, creating a reoccurring disaster of lost lives and property for the rural communities of South America’s Gran Chaco region. Unlike most rivers, during the rainy season up to a third of the Pilcomayo’s volume is sediment carried in the water, and its path is unpredictable. When the muddy river floods its banks, it deposits that sediment in huge mounds of mud, at times burying entire houses and cars.