
Río Inabón is one of one of the
14 rivers in the municipality of
Ponce, Puerto Rico
Ponce (, , , ) is both a city and a municipality on the southern coast of Puerto Rico. The city is the seat of the municipal government.
Ponce, Puerto Rico's most populated city outside the San Juan metropolitan area, was founded on 12 August 16 ...
. With a length of some , it is Ponce's second longest river after
Río Jacaguas. It is fed by the
Río Anón,
Río Guayo
The Guayo River ( es, Río Guayo) is a river near barrio Collores in the municipality of Juana Diaz, Puerto Rico
Juana is a Spanish female first name. It is the feminine form of Juan (English John), and thus corresponds to the English names J ...
(which itself is fed by the Chiquita Brook and the Indalecia Brook) and the Emajagua Brook. It is also fed by Río Bacas and Río de las Raices. Originating at an altitude of approximately , it forms at a higher altitude than any of the other 13 rivers in the municipality, and at one of the highest points of any river in Puerto Rico. With a watershed area covering 38.18 square miles, Río Inabón also has the second largest basin area of any of the municipality's 14 rivers after
Río Jacaguas.
Origin and course
Río Inabón has its origin at above sea level in Cerro Camacho, in barrio
Anón, near Anón's boundary with the municipality of
Jayuya. The river runs mostly parallel to
PR-511.
Uses
"A provision in The
Treaty of Paris of 1898
The Treaty of Peace between the United States of America and the Kingdom of Spain, commonly known as the Treaty of Paris of 1898 ( fil, Kasunduan sa Paris ng 1898; es, Tratado de París de 1898), was a treaty signed by Spain and the United Stat ...
grants the
Serrallés family exclusive rights to the Río Inabón. This river winds through Puerto Rico’s volcanic mountains, and is the exclusive water source for
DonQ Rum". Today Río Inabón is one of the most popular rivers for swimming in southern Puerto Rico. Some 10 private
reservoir
A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation.
Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including control ...
s in the Ponce area are fed by the waters of Río Inabón.
Environmental contamination
In January 2011, Puerto Rico Representative
Víctor Vassallo Anadón presented a bill into the Puerto Rico House of Representatives that would improve the sewer system of residents near the river to avoid contaminating it with sewer waters.
Endangered species
The fern ''
Thelypteris inabonensis'' found at the headwaters of Río Inabón and at the
Toro Negro State Forest
Toro Negro State Forest (Spanish: ''Bosque Estatal de Toro Negro'') is one of the 21 forests that make up the public forests system in Puerto Rico. It is also Puerto Rico's highest cloud forest. It is in the Cordillera Central region of the isla ...
has been identified by the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as an endangered species.
Flow
The flow of water in the river is controlled by the
floodgate
Floodgates, also called stop gates, are adjustable gates used to control water flow in flood barriers, reservoir, river, stream, or levee systems. They may be designed to set spillway crest heights in dams, to adjust flow rates in sluices and c ...
s at Toa Vaca Lake, located in the municipality of
Villalba. Río Inabon has a discharge of 15,000 ft
3/s. The Inabón has been known to overflow easily in times of heavy rains. Several rescues have taken place when the river has increased its level rapidly, a phenomenon known as
flash flood
A flash flood is a rapid flooding of low-lying areas: washes, rivers, dry lakes and depressions. It may be caused by heavy rain associated with a severe thunderstorm, hurricane, or tropical storm, or by meltwater from ice or snow flowing ...
. Due to its proximity to the eastern end of
Aeropuerto Mercedita, the river has affected the operation of the airport in times of heavy rains. This was the case with the
hurricane Maria
Hurricane Maria was a deadly Category 5 hurricane that devastated the northeastern Caribbean in September 2017, particularly Dominica, Saint Croix, and Puerto Rico. It is regarded as the worst natural disaster in recorded history to affec ...
in September 2011.
''Trastoca al sur remanente de María.''
Reinaldo Millán and Jason Rodríguez. La Perla del Sur. Ponce, Puerto Rico. 14 September 2011. Retrieved 2 November 2011.
File:Bridge over Inabón River, on the road between Ponce and Santa Isabel, Puerto Rico (1920) - photograph - page 158.jpg, Bridge over Río Inabón on PR-1
Puerto Rico Highway 1 (PR-1) is a highway in Puerto Rico that connects the city of Ponce to San Juan. Leaving Ponce, the road heads east and follows a somewhat parallel route along the southern coast of the island heading towards Salinas. At ...
between Ponce and Santa Isabel in 1920.
Course of the river
The following table summarizes the course of Río Inabón in terms of roads crossed. Roads are listed as the river flows from its origin in the mountains of Barrio Anón, north of the city of Ponce, to the Caribbean Sea in the south (N/A = Data not available):
**Marker requires field verification.
See also
* List of rivers of Puerto Rico
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby uni ...
* List of rivers of Ponce
This list of rivers of Ponce consists of the 14 rivers in the municipality of Ponce, Puerto Rico. Rivers that either originate in the municipality or that run the bulk of their course through said municipality are listed. Except for two rivers, ...
Notes
:1.Google Maps incorrectly labels some of the northern portions of Río Inabón as Río Anón. This is most evident in portions just below where Rio Anón feeds into Rio Inabón. See HereWeGo Map
and MapQues
for labeling consistent with Government of Puerto Rico and USGS
The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...
labeling.
References
External links
USGS Geographic Names Information Service
YouTube video of Rio Inabon at Km 6.7 of PR-511 on 16 October 2010.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Inabon, Rio
Rivers of Puerto Rico
Rivers of Ponce, Puerto Rico
Barrio Real