The Rímac River is located in western

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

and is the most important source of potable water for the Lima and Callao Metropolitan Area. It belongs to the Pacific Slope, into which it flows after bathing the cities of

Lima Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...

and Callao, together with the Chillón River, to the north, and the Lurín River, to the south. It is 204 km long and has a basin of 3,312 km², of which 2,237.2 km² is a humid basin. The basin has a total of 191

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') an ...

s, of which only 89 have been studied. The river begins in the highlands of the Huarochirí Province in the Lima Region and its mouth is located in Callao, near Jorge Chávez International Airport.Juan Diego Chávez Espinoza
''Adaptation to Climate Change in the Rímac River Basin River''
BMZ/KfW, Dezember 2010, p. 8 The Rímac Valley () runs alongside the river, and is one of three

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains and typically containing a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over ...

s in the city of

. The city of Lima is located on the delta-shaped valley, as are various towns such as Matucana, Ricardo Palma, Chosica, Chaclacayo and Vitarte, small cities that function as strategic points between the coast and central mountains of Peru. It has a total surface of 3,700 km².

Etymology

The name ''Rímac'' is from the Quechua word ''rimaq'', meaning "speaker, speaking", leading to it being nicknamed ''El Río Hablador'' ("the talking river"). This name originates from the fact that a culture called Pachacámac existed in the Lima area. They built some galleries on the edge of the river with a space where a priest could enter without being seen. The inhabitants approached the river that was considered an ''apu'' (deity) and consulted it about their inquiries, all in front of said gallery built for it. The priest responded from within, to make believe that it was the river itself that was speaking. This is the origin of why the Rímac River is called Río Hablador. In addition, according to a legend, its origin is based on the sacrifice of Rímac, the son of the god Inti, and his sister Chaclla, to free men from a drought. And that if you find yourself on the river bank, you will hear his voice telling stories, hence the name. The Spanish misunderstood the word ''Rímac'' as ''Lima'', which led to the city receiving the latter name, as a derivation of it because its pronunciation had been deformed. However, the term ''Limaq'', without being appropriate in highland Quechua, seems to have been the original in the coastal varieties of Quechua and also in the Mochica language, which preceded Quechua in that area.

Geography

The Rímac River begins its journey on the western slope of the

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

mountain range at an altitude of approximately 5,508 mamsl in the Nevado Paca, touring the provinces of

and Huarochirí, both located in the department of Lima. Among the most important tributaries of the Rímac are the Santa Eulalia River, the San Mateo or Alto Rímac River and the Blanco River. Parallel to the Rímac River runs the Central Highway and a railway line, which starting from the port of Callao, reaches the city of La Oroya in the department of Junín, to later divide into two (one to the south and the other to the north), but not before going through the ''Abra de Anticona'', better known as Ticlio, located at 4840 mamsl. In its basin we can also find the water treatment plant for Lima, called '' La Atarjea'', managed by the ''Lima Drinking Water and Sewerage Service Public Company'' ( SEDAPAL), in addition to the hydroelectric power plants of Huampaní Hydroelectric Power Plant, Matucana (also known as ''Pablo Boner Hydroelectric Power Plant''), Huinco Hydroelectric Power Plant, Barbablanca Hydroelectric Power Plant, and Juan Carossio (also known as ''Moyopampa Hydroelectric Power Plant''), all operated by Enel Perú (formerly EDEGEL). At the height of the city of Lima, the Rímac is crossed by several bridges, the best known of which is the tercentenary '' Puente de Piedra'' (wrongly called "''Puente Trujillo''" today, which is the one next to it), built in the time of viceroy Juan de Mendoza y Luna, Marquis of Montesclaros in 1610, when Peru was part of the Spanish Empire. On its margins, in the part of the mountains, several tourist restaurants, vacation and recreation centers can be found, as well as a series of clubs, which serve as escape points for the people of Lima in the cold and humid winters. Likewise, several picturesque towns can be found, such as Chosica, Matucana (capital of Huarochirí), San Bartolomé, San Mateo de Huanchor, Ricardo Palma and San Jerónimo de Surco. A total of 27 mining operations are located in the Rímac river basin, of which seven continue to operate and the other 20 are closed or abandoned. The districts of Chicla, San Mateo, Matucana, Surco, Huanza and Carampoma in Huarochirí are the ones with the highest concentration of work. The most prominent mining centers in the area are Casapalca, Tamboraque, Millontingo, Pacococha, Colqui, Venturosa, Caridad, Lichicocha and Cocachacra.

Flow

The "maximum discharge in 24 hours", which occurred in the Rímac river and registered at the Chosica station, amounts to 385 m³/s (in 1941) and was only repeated on another occasion with 380 m³/s (in 1955) (since there was a record of less than 120 years, the risks of extrapolating are high). However, according to some investigations, an exceptional discharge occurred on March 29, 1925, estimated at 600 m³/s. The decrease in the flow of the Rímac during the dry season, in addition to the constant growth of Lima, prevented a good supply of drinking water in the city. For this reason, in 1962 the Peruvian government carried out the water transfer project from the ''Marcapomacocha'' lagoon, which belongs to the Mantaro river basin, through a 10-kilometre siphon-shaped tunnel at 4,000 mamsl that crosses several

glacier A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...

''Rímac reserved zone''

In 1998, the Reserved Zone of the Rímac River Valley was created, which is located between the districts of

, Chaclacayo, San Juan de Lurigancho and Ate of the Province of Lima, and tries to take care of the cleanliness and landscape environment of area. Its extension is the one that covers a strip of 28 km. Currently, work is being done on its margins, in different areas, in order to recover its beauty, which has been greatly diminished in recent decades since it is used as a garbage dump by the inhabitants of its margins, in addition to being the draining place of sewage systems. This area is home to species of fauna such as the '' falco sparverius'', which uses the waterfalls of the ravines as resting and stalking places. On the banks of rivers with low vegetation, birds such as the gargantuan duck ('' Anas bahamensis''), herons such as the '' Egretta thula'', the '' Eudocimus albus'', the '' Bubulcus ibis'' and the '' Nycticorax nycticorax'' have been found.

Proposed projects

The river and its surroundings have been the target of several projects, be they to improve the quality of the river or to build structures, such as esplanades surrounding it.

References