Quindío River is the principal river of the department of Quindío

Quindío Department

Quindío is a department of Colombia. It is in the western central region of the country, crossed by the Andes mountains. Its capital is Armenia. It is famous for the quality of the coffee plantations, colorful architecture, benign weather, variety of hotel accommodations and touristic landmarks...

, Colombia

Colombia

Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...

. It combines with the Barragán River at the Valle de Maravelez to form La Vieja River

La Vieja River

La Vieja River is a river in the Colombiandepartments of Quindío, Valle del Cauca and Risaralda.It is a major tributary of the Cauca River.The river is formed by the joining of the Quindío River and the...

, in turn a tributary of the Cauca River

Cauca River

The Cauca River is a river in Colombia that lies between the Occidental and Central cordilleras. Born in southwestern Colombia near the city of Popayán, it joins the Magdalena River near Pinillos in Bolívar Department, and the combined river eventually flows out into the Caribbean Sea. It has a...

.

Quindío River has a length of 69 km. It forms in the mountains east of Salento and flows in a south-westerly direction, passing by the township of Salento and forming the eastern limit of the city of Armenia

Armenia, Colombia

Armenia is the capital of Quindío, a department in Colombia. The city is located at coordinates 4.5170° north, 75.6830° west, 290 kilometers west of Bogotá. Armenia is a mid-size city located between Bogotá, Medellín and Cali, the 3 largest Colombian cities. The city's area code for phone calls is...

. Its major tributaries are the Verde River and the Navarco River (these in turn have the tributaries Santo Domingo and Boquerón, respectively). The total watershed including these tributaries is 691 km². The average flow at the mouth is 29 m³/s.

The river is the source of drinking water for the majority of the inhabitants of the department. The continued increase in demand is placing significant pressure on this resource. Additionally, there are contamination problems due to inadequate waste water treatment facilities in the municipalities along the river.