The Beberibe valley is very narrow, passing through low-lying land and marshlands from its source to the eponymous suburb. That is why the land alongside it – formed by ferruginous and massapê clay – becomes inundated after a flood occurs.

The traditional populations living near the rivers and surviving on subsistence fishing, hunting, agriculture and extraction are known as ‘Ribeirinhos’.

The controversial and ambitious Project for the Integration of São Francisco River and the Watershed of the Northern Northeast, known as the Transposition of São Francisco River Project, has been developed by the Ministry of National Integration between 2003 and 2006.