La Vieja River ( es, Río La Vieja) is a river in the
Colombian departments of
Quindío,
Valle del Cauca and
Risaralda. It is a major tributary of the
Cauca River
The Cauca River () is a river in Colombia that lies between the Occidental and Central cordilleras. From its headwaters in southwestern Colombia near the city of Popayán, it joins the Magdalena River near Magangue in Bolivar Department, and ...
.
The river is formed by the joining of the
Quindío River
Quindío River ( es, Río Quindío) is the principal river of the department of Quindío, Colombia. It combines with the Barragán River at the Valle de Maravelez to form La Vieja River, in turn a tributary of the Cauca River.
Quindío River Is ...
and the
Barragán River in an area known as the Valle de Maravelez. It has a length of and flows in a northwesterly direction, meeting the Cauca River approximately north of
Cartago. Major tributaries include the Roble, Consota, Barbas, Espejo and Pijao rivers. La Vieja forms the limit between the departments of Quindío and Valle del Cauca; it also forms part of the limit between Risaralda and Valle del Cauca.
The river basin has an area of and includes the entire department of Quindío. Although Cartago is the only major urban area situated directly on the river, the cities of
Armenia
Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ' ...
and
Pereira are located in its watershed. The average river flow is .
Recreational use of the river includes the increasingly popular tourist activity ''balsaje'', in which groups of up to 16 people explore the slow-flowing river in large rafts made of
guadua. The majority of these excursions depart from Puerto Samaria in the municipality of
Montenegro
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, Quindío, and arrive at Puerto Alejandrino in neighboring
Quimbaya. The number of participants has grown from 400 during 2000 to over 11,000 in 2003, and there are at least a dozen firms offering this service.
La Vieja has significant contamination problems, primarily due to inadequate
waste water treatment
Wastewater treatment is a process used to remove contaminants from wastewater and convert it into an effluent that can be returned to the water cycle. Once returned to the water cycle, the effluent creates an acceptable impact on the environme ...
in its watershed.
References
Corporación Autónoma Regional del Quindío (2005)
Proyecto Ordenacion y Manejo de la Cuenca del Río La Vieja{Dead link, date=February 2020 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes (in Spanish)
Rivers of Colombia