The Baker River 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 w ...

located in the Aysén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo Region of the

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

Patagonia Patagonia () refers to a geographical region that encompasses the southern end of South America, governed by Argentina and Chile. The region comprises the southern section of the Andes Mountains with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and g ...

. It is Chile's largest river in terms of volume of water. The river flows out of Bertrand Lake, which is fed by

General Carrera Lake General Carrera Lake (Chilean part, officially renamed in 1959) or Lake Buenos Aires (Argentine part) is a lake located in Patagonia and shared by Argentina and Chile. Both names are internationally accepted, while the autochthonous name of the ...

. It runs along the east side of the

Northern Patagonian Ice Field The Northern Patagonian Ice Field, located in southern Chile, is the smaller of two remnant parts in which the Patagonian Ice Sheet in the Andes Mountains of southern South America can be divided. It is completely contained within the boundaries ...

and empties into the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the contin ...

, near the town of

Caleta Tortel Caleta Tortel is a coastal village ( es, aldea) in Chile. It is the administrative centre of the commune of Tortel and is located between the mouth of the Baker River the largest river in Chile and a small embayment of the Baker Channel. The surr ...

. The river forms a

delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), a letter of the Greek alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * D ( NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta") * Delta Air Lines, US * Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19 Delta may also ...

, dividing into two major arms, of which only the northernmost one is navigable. Its characteristic turquoise-blue color is due to the glacial sediments deposited in it. It was the proposed site of a controversial major hydro-electric project, involving five dams, to be the biggest in the history of Chile. Called

HidroAysén HidroAysén (Pronounced: ) was a controversial megaproject that aimed to build five hydroelectric power plants in Chile's Aysén Region, two on the Baker River and three on the Pascua River (with government subvention included to help relief co ...

, the project was a joint venture between Endesa Chile a subsidiary of the international energy conglomerate

Enel Enel S.p.A. is an Italian multinational manufacturer and distributor of electricity and gas. Enel, which originally stood for Ente nazionale per l'energia elettrica (National Electricity Board), was first established as a public body at the ...

, and Colbún S.A. a subsidiary of Minera Valparaíso. The series of hydro-electric dams were proposed along both the Baker and Pascua rivers, two of Chile's mightiest rivers. The project was opposed by a protest campaign led by Chilean and international environmental activist groups. Few rivers this large in the world remain undammed and free flowing. Chile's Committee of Ministers overturned the environmental permits for the HidroAysén dam project June 2014.

Tributaries

The river also receives the waters of the Cochrane Lake through the

Cochrane River The Cochrane River is a short river of Chile located in the Aysén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo Region. It is the outlet of Cochrane Lake and empties into the Baker River. The town of Cochrane is situated along the river. The Cochrane R ...

. Other major tributaries are: *

Nef River The Nef River is a river of Chile. The river has its source at a proglacial lake, which is feed by Nef Glacier Nef Glacier is a glacier located in Laguna San Rafael National Park, in the Aysén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo Region of Chi ...

Chacabuco River The Chacabuco River is a river of Chile located in the Aysén del General Carlos Ibáñez del Campo Region. The river rises in a col between Cerro Lucas Bridges and Cerro Baker. The latter is a mountain on the Argentina Argentina (), off ...

* Del Salto River * Colonia River * De los Ñadis River * Ventisquero River * Vargas River

Gallery

Image:Río Baker 02.jpg, Kayaking is a popular sport on the river. Image:Río Baker, sector Balsa Baker.jpg, Winter 2006

References

External links

Hidrografía Región de Aysén
Sistema Integrado de Información Territorial
Endesa Opponents Call Foul
The Santiago Times Rivers of Chile Rivers of Aysén Region {{Chile-river-stub

Tributaries

Gallery

See also

References

External links