Portugués River

Río Portugués has its origin in Cerro Guilarte,[14] located the western part of barrio Portugués in the bordering municipality of Adjuntas,[15][lower-alpha 1] just north of Ponce, and drains into the Caribbean Sea after running for some 27.6 kilometers (17.1 mi).[16][note 1] The river has a discharge of 16,000 feet³/second.[17] The toponymy, or origin of the name, comes from one of its first settlers, Pedro Rodríguez de Guzman, known as el Portugués ("the Portuguese") because his ancestry was from Portugal.[18][note 2]

Map showing the location of Río Portugués among the other rivers in the municipality. The area in pink represents the urban zone of the city

Río Chiquito is one of the tributaries of Río Portugués (i.e., Río Chiquito feeds into Río Portugués).[19] In the sectors and sub-barrios that it traverses, the locals call the river by the name of such sector/barrio. Thus names such as Río Cedro, Río Nuez, Río Moscada, and Río Tibes as the unofficial local name of Río Portugués in the sectors known as Cedro, Nuez, Moscada and Tibes.[20]

Starting at its origin in Barrio Portugués, Adjuntas, Río Portugués, as it is known locally, begins to form at an altitude of approximately 2,853 feet (870 m) above sea level.[21] The river then runs in a southerly direction parallel to PR-10 for most of its trajectory, crossing barrios Guaraguao, San Patricio, and Tibes. It brushes barrio Machuelo Arriba on its southwestern corner after it crosses PR-10 just west of the intersection of PR-10 and PR-504, immediately north of the Ponce city limits. From there it enters barrio Machuelo Abajo and continues south crossing Avenida Betances/Avenida Tito Castro (PR-14), at a point about half a mile west of the intersection of routes PR-12 and PR-14. A few hundred feet before the Avenida Betances bridge over Río Portugués in the city of Ponce, the river divides barrios Sexto, located west of the river, and Machuelo Abajo, to the east. It continues south crossing Calle Guadalupe, at which point it divides barrio Quinto to the west and Machuelo Abajo to the east. This point is just west of Club Deportivo de Ponce. Several hundred feet further downstream, at Miguel Pou Boulevard–PR-1 and Puente de los Leones–Tricentennial Park, the river divides barrios Tercero and San Antón. Further downstream, the river runs immediately west of La Ceiba Park on Calle Comercio (route PR-133) in sector Cuatro Calles. After crossing Calle Comercio, Río Portugués divides barrios Cuarto and San Anton, and continues its southerly course towards Avenida Las Américas (PR-163).

The following table summarizes the course of the river in terms of roads crossed. Roads are listed as the river flows from its origin in Ponce's Barrio Guaraguao in the north to the Caribbean Sea in the south (N/A = Data not available):

For flood control purposes, in the 1970s Río Portugués was diverted by the U.S. Corps of Engineers from emptying directly into the Caribbean Sea at Playa de Ponce to feeding into the Río Bucaná which then empties into the Caribbean Sea. This channelization project started in 1974[24] and was completed in 1997.[25] It was a multimillion-dollar investment, with just the first phase costing $120 million.[26]

Current course

Puerto Rico Highway 139 (PR-139) in Barrio Maraguez, heading South-bound. The Río Portugués canal is visible in the background as it empties into the Caribbean Sea.

Once the U.S. Corps of Engineers canalized Río Portugués as it flowed through the city of Ponce, the Corps also diverted its course from a south-southwesterly course to a south-southeasterly course. This diversion started immediately south of the river's intersection with Avenida Las Américas.

From Avenida Las Américas the river now flows, channelized, in a south-southeasterly after crossing Avenida Las Américas about a quarter of a mile east of Hospital Dr. Pila. After crossing Avenida Las Américas in downtown Ponce, the river comes to the location where in the 1970s it was diverted by the US Corps of Engineers from a southwesterly path to its current southeasterly path. Taking a sharp easterly turn, Río Portugués enters barrio San Antón, and crosses route PR-12/Avenida Malecon about one quarter of a mile north of PR-12's intersection with PR-2. Shortly thereafter the river bends to become southbound and crosses route PR-2, about one quarter of a mile east of PR-2's intersection with PR-12. The river then borders the Julio Enrique Monagas Family Park on the park's western edge until, still canalized, it feeds into Bucaná River about half a mile south of PR-2. The point where Río Portugués feeds into Río Bucaná is about one quarter of a mile north of PR-52 (a.k.a., Autopista Luis A. Ferré) and can be seen from the southbound side of PR-52.

Today Río Portugués is one of the most popular rivers for swimming in southern Puerto Rico.[30]

Artistic rendering of Portugues Dam

In 1986, the U.S. Congress approved funding to build the Portugués Dam for Río Portugués about 4 miles (6.4 km) northwest of Ponce. Construction began in April 2008[31] and, when finished, the dam will be the first roller-compacted concrete thick arch dam built anywhere in U.S. soil by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.[32][33] The Cerrillos Dam over Río Cerrillos was finished in 1992, and had also been approved by Congress in 1986. The cost to build the Portugués Dam is over $192 million.[34]

The dam will consist of a dike of 220 feet high by 1,230 feet wide. It will use 368,000 cubic yards of compressed concrete. As of 22 March 2009, 88 percent of the concrete work had been completed. Its scheduled completion date is 2013. The total investment is $375 million USD.[35]

In 1971, Mr. and Mrs. Clark Foreman, owners of the Adjuntas property where Río Portugués originates, granted the development rights of their property in Adjuntas to the Conservation Trust of Puerto Rico, thereby establishing the first scenic and conservation easement in Puerto Rico. The deed of easement and its restrictive covenants protect a 40-acre (160,000 m²) tract of land that includes the headwaters of Río Portugués. Although the title to the land remains with the Foreman family, the easement restricts the use of the land, safeguarding its trees, vegetation, and other natural resources against destruction or alteration in perpetuity. Today, 42 acres (170,000 m²) of Río Portugués scenic easement in Adjuntas's humid forest are a protected entity of the Conservation Trust of Puerto Rico.[36]

An important archeological finding, labeled "PO-29: Jácana", was made on the banks of the river. Artifacts were transferred to Jacksonville, Florida and then returned to a museum in Puerto Rico.[37][38]

• List of rivers of Puerto Rico
• Ponce, Puerto Rico
• Portugués Dam
• List of rivers of Ponce

• U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Río Portugués

• Río Portugués during the rainy season Retrieved January 5, 2011.
• Río Portugués in Barrio Playa, before its course was changed to empty by Barrio Bucana. Retrieved January 5, 2011.