Reventazón River

This article is about the river. For the dam, see Reventazón Dam.

The Reventazón River, Rio Reventazón, is a river in Costa Rica.

Reventazón River
Etymology	severely broken up river
Native name	Río Reventazón (Spanish)
Location
Countries	Costa Rica
Provinces	Cartago, Limón
Physical characteristics
Source	Confluence of Agua Caliente River and Grande de Orosi River
• coordinates	9°48′42″N 83°51′04″W
Mouth	Parismina River
• coordinates	10°17′07″N 83°24′39″W
Length	145 kilometres (90 mi)

Reventazón River near Parismina

Geography

The Reventazón River forms part of the Reventazón-Parismina drainage basin. It is 145 kilometres (90 mi) long and flows into the Caribbean Sea. It starts at the base of the Irazú Volcano, passing through the east side of the Central Valley, and flows through the Orosí and Turrialba Valleys. After reaching the Caribbean coastal plains, it joins the Parismina River and forms what is called the Reventazón-Parismina.^[1]

Economy

Water supply

In its upper segments, the Reventazón River is the source of 25% of the drinking water of Costa Rica's largest metropolitan area, centered on San Jose.

Hydropower generation

The river is very important for power generation. Three reservoirs in the river, Lake Cachí (100.8 MW), Angostura (177MW), and Reventazón Dam (305.5MW), are used for generating a significant share of Costa Rica's electricity. The dam for the third reservoir, Reventazón (305MW), was completed and opened in 2016. The river is also important for tourism, especially for whitewater rafting.

Tourism

Rafting is practiced on the river, which has Class 2-3 rapids in its Florida section. ^[2]

Ecosystem

The bobo mullet (Joturus pichardi) is native to the Parismina River and is fished here for subsistence consumption and sometimes commercially.^[3]

See also

• Codo del Diablo murders