It empties into the Balbina Dam on the Uatumã River.

In the 1970s the Amazon Radar Project detected deposits of cassiterite (tin ore) on the Waimiri Atroari Indigenous Reservation.

[1] Prospectors of Mineração Taboca, a subsidiary of the Paranapanema heavy civil construction company, found traces of cassiterite in 1979 in tributaries of the Pitinga River.

[2] The company built a community in the Amazon forest 300 kilometres (190 mi) from Manaus with housing, schools, health facilities, power and telecommunications.

[2] In 1985 Paranapanema invested US$15 million in infrastructure upgrades, including a 10,000 kilowatt hydroelectric power plant on the Pitinga River, expected to reduce energy costs by US$4 million annually.