The Ranchería River ( es, Río Ranchería) is a

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

located in northern

La Guajira Department La Guajira () is a department of Colombia. It occupies most of the Guajira Peninsula in the northeast region of the country, on the Caribbean Sea and bordering Venezuela, at the northernmost tip of South America. The capital city of the departm ...

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

. Born in the

Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (English: ''Snow-Covered Mountain Range of Saint Martha'') is an isolated mountain range in northern Colombia, separate from the Andes range that runs through the north of the country. Reaching an elevation of ...

southern steps flows south, abruptly turns northeast and then north where it finally flows into the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico ...

. It is the main river of La Guajira Department and has great significance for the

Wayuu people The Wayuu (also Wayu, Wayúu, Guajiro, Wahiro) are an Amerindian ethnic group of the Guajira Peninsula in northernmost part of Colombia and northwest Venezuela. The Wayuu language is part of the Maipuran (Arawak) language family. Geography Th ...

. A large dam, the "El Cercado", was first proposed in the 1950s in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountains, as an irrigation source for agribusiness and for the population of at least nine municipalities. The Sierra Nevada Indigenous communities protested the dam, which they regarded as a systematic appropriation of the river by landowners and the coal mining industry (the world's largest open-pit coalmine,

Cerrejón Cerrejón is a large open-pit coal mine in Northern Colombia owned by Glencore. At Cerrejón, low-ash, low-sulphur bituminous coal from the Cerrejón Formation is excavated. At over the mine is one of the largest of its type, the largest in Lati ...

, is allowed around 16% of the river's volumetric flow). It was completed in the mid 2000s (picture) The river flows down to a region of water scarcity in the semi-desert lowlands to the north and west. Four water management phases were envisaged, but by 2021 only dam construction has been completed and pipelines for irrigation, which are not connected. Irrigation connections, aqueducts and a seven megawatts hydroelectric plant are programmed but there are significant accusations that they have been uncompleted due to corruption and mismanagement.

2007 floods

On April 22, 2007, the Rancheria river flooded the municipality of Manaure in

La Guajira La Guajira () is a department of Colombia. It occupies most of the Guajira Peninsula in the northeast region of the country, on the Caribbean Sea and bordering Venezuela, at the northernmost tip of South America. The capital city of the departm ...

after three or four days of continuous precipitation. The town of Manaure suffered floods in 24 neighborhoods and some 30 communities in the rural area of the municipality and also affected sections of the municipality of

Riohacha Riohacha (; Wayuu: ) is a city in the Riohacha Municipality in the northern Caribbean Region of Colombia by the mouth of the Ranchería River and the Caribbean Sea. It is the capital city of the La Guajira Department. It has a sandy beach waterfr ...

. Flood victims (some 1,250 families, mostly pertaining to the

Wayuu The Wayuu (also Wayu, Wayúu, Guajiro, Wahiro) are an Amerindian ethnic group of the Guajira Peninsula in northernmost part of Colombia and northwest Venezuela. The Wayuu language is part of the Maipuran (Arawak) language family. Geography ...

ethnic group) had to be evacuated on boats and jet skis by the

Colombian Red Cross The Colombian Red Cross is a Colombian-based nonprofit private entity member of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Society. It has been a member since 1922. The Colombian Red Cross embraces the principles of the International Red Cross ...

and the Colombian Civil Defense due to the difficult conditions in the area. They also delivered medical and food supplies. The Governor of La Guajira José González, was also present in the area and asked the national government for assistance and aid.El Tiempo: Desbordamiento del río Ranchería afecta a 1.250 familias de La Guajira
(Flooding of Rancheri River affects 1,250 families in La Guajira)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rancheria River Rivers of Colombia