A través de la Resolución 01057 the 14 August 2012, Regional Autonomous Corporation of La Guajira, adopted the River Ranchería Water Flow Management Plan, process through which the classification of its waters was carried out, setting in a generic way its destination to the different uses and its possibilities of exploitation, as well as the quality objectives to be achieved in the short term, medium and long term

The work included the execution of important tasks in its different phases: declaration of ordering, diagnóstico, identification of potential uses and preparation of the Ranchería River Water Flow Management Plan.

According to the study, the different current and potential uses of the Ranchería River were established.:

– Human and domestic consumption, whose purification only requires conventional treatment.
– Human and domestic consumption, whose purification only requires disinfection.
– Water for human and domestic consumption directly from the source.
– Agricultural.
– Recreation through primary contact.
– Pollutant dilution and assimilation.
– Preservation of flora and fauna.
– Livestock
– Industrial.

The highest environmental authority of La Guajira, carry out the legalization of groundwater in the Ranchería river basin and regulation of its water flow and main tributaries. Corpoguajira is also allowed to inform that in addition to the requirements established in the current environmental regulations, the users of this basin must adopt the following procedure to request a new concession or the variation of an existing one:

– Quantity: How much (maximum instantaneous flow and monthly average flow) request a referral and in what period?.
– Characterization of use: So that, where is the use and if it is extensive? (agricultural, livestock, forestal).
– Bocatoma: Where would the extraction be done, with what infrastructure would it be carried out, its characteristics and measurement system?
– Minimum Ecological Flow (CME): How will you meet the CME requirement?.
– Return: Where would the return water pour and what quality would it have?
– Impact: Do you think that its new use will not affect the other existing ones in terms of quantity and quality and if an impact on living species is expected??
– Data: What data are you using to estimate the availability related to the different security percentiles? (yes he has).

The Ranchería river is the most important in La Guajira, born on the eastern flank of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, in the Chirigua páramo, at an altitude of 3.875 meters above sea level. After taking a tour of 248 kilometers empties into the Caribbean Sea, in the vicinity of the municipality of Riohacha.