Medellin River

The Medellín River is a Colombian river that flows through the city of Medellín and its metropolitan area from south to north, becoming an integrating axis of the city.

The Medellín River flows beyond the limits of the municipality of Barbosa with the Grande River and forms the Porce River. The Porce flows into the Dos Bocas area of the Anorí municipality in the Nechí river, this then goes to the Cauca river and the latter to the Magdalena river; who finally empties into the Caribbean Sea. Thus constituting part of a complex drainage network.

The Medellín River in turn divides the central mountain range in 2, through the so-called Aburrá Valley, which separates the 2 Antioquia highlands, the San Nicolás Valley to the east that drains into the Nare River, and the Northern Highlands that drains in its sister river, the Great.

History

From 1883 to 1916, the channeling of the river aroused the interest of the upper class, who saw in this work the possibility of improving the hygienic and health conditions of the city, but also concentrated the desire to drain the territory, improve their conditions and incorporate them into the city to expand the urban area between the old town and the banks of the river.

City Tour

In the beginning, the city of Medellín developed on the eastern side of the river, and it was not until the construction of the Guayaquil bridge, that the two banks were united. The Medellín River has become an axis of development for the city; its importance is so well-known that the layout of Line A of the city metro follows the silhouette of the river, and only separates from it when it enters the center of the city. The river is channeled for the most part as it passes through the city, from the municipality of Sabaneta to the Madera subway station, north of the city.

Apart from some subway stations, on the right bank of the river there are places of interest in the city such as: the Palace of Exhibitions and Conventions, the International Convention Center, the Metropolitan Theater, the intelligent building of the Companies Públicas de Medellín (EPM), SENA and the University of Antioquia. On the left side is Cerro Nutibara, La Macarena Show Center, the Pilot Public Library, the National University of Colombia, Medellín headquarters, subway stations, among other places of interest. At the height of the Barranquilla street bridge is the Medellín Environmental Information and Training Center, an entity that is part of the Medellín Municipality's Secretary of the Environment, which in turn, through the Undersecretary of Metrorio, works for the sanitation of the river basin.

Basin

It is located on the central mountain range, in the center of the department of Antioquia, in northwestern Colombia. The basin has an irregular and sloping topography; Altitudes range from 1,300 to 2,800 m a.s.l. no. m.. It has an elongated shape in a northeasterly direction and a dendritic drainage network. The river is approximately 104 km long and the basin area is 1,251 km². The geomorphological characteristics of the area and its level of rainfall, which is between 1,000 and 2,500 mm/year, mean that surface water sources are common in the basin.

There is a great variety of land uses in the basin, another determining factor in the heterogeneity present in the basin is the large number of population it houses, which corresponds to 3,329,560 inhabitants, representing 60% of the population of Antioquia and 8% of the country.

Río Medellín from the Environmental Classroom

Course

Source

It is born at 3,100 m s. no. m. in the Alto de San Miguel, in the municipality of Caldas, south of the Aburrá Valley, it crosses 10 municipalities, and finally joins the Grande River at Puente Gabino, where together they form the Porce River.

High Course

This area is located about 30 km south of Medellín. It has an area of 1,055 ha and includes the basins of the La Vieja, La Moladora, El Tesoro and Santa Isabel streams. The altitude oscillates between 2,000 and 3,050 m s. no. m., the average temperature is 16 °C and the precipitation is greater than 2500 mm/year. These characteristics condition a life zone of very humid lower montane forest.

The vegetation cover in this area is made up of a variety of vegetation in various successional states; secondary forest occupies about 70% of the area, followed by low and high stubble with 22%, pastures with 5% and forest plantations with 3%.

Pollution

The Medellín river changes its appearance as it passes through Barbosa, in the vicinity of Porce. There, a large amount of foam is mixed with water and stones, reflecting the degree of contamination of the water resource in the region.

San Fernando wastewater treatment center.

The company EPM seeks to reduce the contamination of the Medellín river by processing the water with a treatment plant which began construction in 2012 and began operating in 2019 that treats an average of 84% of the area's wastewater Metropolitan Valley of Aburrá.