Iriri River Iriri River The Iriri River () is a large tributary of the Xingu River in Brazil, in the state of Pará. It is long making it the 116th longest river in the world (with Krishna River, India) and the 15th longest in the Amazon basin. The headwaters are the traditional home of the Panará people. The river rises in the Nascentes da Serra do Cachimbo Biological Reserve, a strictly protected conservation unit established in 2005 in the Serra do Cachimbo. It is one of the headwaters of the Xingu River. It flows for before joining the Xingu, running through the
Xingu River extracting from the river most of what they need for food and water. The Brazilian government is building the Belo Monte Dam, which will be the world's third-largest hydroelectric dam, on the Lower Xingu. Construction of this dam is under legal challenge by environment and indigenous groups, who assert the dam would have negative environmental and social impacts along with reducing the flow by up to 80% along a stretch known as the Volta Grande ("Big Bend"). The river flow in this stretch is highly complex and includes major sections of rapids. More than 450 fish species have been documented