ABSTRACT
The Río Bogotá is an iconic river of Colombia. It waters the country’s most fertile plain and then flows through the city of Bogotá, only to hurl itself over the Tequendama Falls before disgorging into the Río Magdalena. Yet the quality of water in the Río Bogotá leaves much to be desired. When it reaches its namesake city, with an average flow of 10m³/s, it is suitable only for irrigation; in passing through the city, it receives some 20m³/s of virtually untreated sewage. At that point it is deemed a ‘dead’ river.
