complex, of the state Minas Gerais and of the Paranaiba river. The river presents a relatively wide bed, cultivated for 20% to 50% of the area and at km 400 starts to run on the well known extensive basalt plate of the Paraná River. The low Paranaíba From the reservoir of the waterfall Dourada up to the unison with the Grande river, with 330 km length. Between km 199 and 330 there is a slope of 33 cm/km. At the limit of this stretch, using the readily available energy, a hydroelectric power station "of the waterfall Dourado" was built. This station used to belong to Centrais Elétricas de Goias (CELG), was privatised and now belongs to "Empresa Endesa Cachoeira" with a generator of 658,000 kW and a waterfall of 19 m providing energy to CELG. Her reservoir takes up about 78 km of the middle Paranaíba. On the stretch from here to km 195 we find the so-called canal of São Simão (Simon), a narrow canal cut out of the basalt, 23 km long and 35 m deep situated on the border of Minas en Goias. In this stretch we find the São Simão Dam, operating with a power of 2.680MW At 3 km higher up from the bridge in Highway BR-31 the Paranaíba, now 3,500 m wide, rushes into a canal 300 m wide that further downstream is narrowed to scarcely 80 m, creating a high turbulence and speed. The river is navigable from the dam of the island Solteira over a length of 180 km up to the dam of São Simão. As with the Grande river, there are problems increasing the navigability, such as high falls, rapids etc. In any case it would be very interesting to have navigability into the central region of Brazil, including into the federal capital Brazilia. History São Simão Channel One of the greatest ecological losses in Brazil was the disappearance of the Sâo Simão Channel (Canal de São Simão) located on the lower stretch of the river. It was a narrow gorge cut into the basalt, with 23 kilometers length and 35 meters depth, situated on the boundary of the states of Minas and Goiás. The waters of the river, after dividing into two parallel arms, returned to a common bed, forming a corridor of waterfalls. Today this spectacle no longer exists. The building of the São Simão Dam, with the