Operation license for Amazons Belo Monte mega-dam suspended

A Brazilian judge has suspended the operating license of the controversial Belo Monte dam in the Amazon because the Norte Energia consortium, the dams builder and operator, failed to meet a key compensation commitment required by the federal government.
 
 In exchange for the right to build and run the dam, Norte Energia originally agreed to install drinking water and sewage systems for the city of Altamira, with completion due in July 2014. 

The court allowed an extension to September 1, 2016, but the system is still not complete.
 
 Norte Energia had argued that its commitment only extended to constructing water and sewer lines, not to connecting those lines to residences a contention which the court has rejected.
 
 The city currently dumps its sewage directly into the Xingu River, and waste is now building up behind the new dam. If the sanitation system isn't quickly installed, officials worry that Altamira runs the risk of a collapse in sanitation due to the contamination of the city's groundwater from domestic sewage.