The Otún River is a river in the Risaralda

Risaralda Department

Risaralda is a department of Colombia. It is located in the western central region of the country and part of the Paisa Region. Its capital is Pereira.It was divided from the department of Caldas in 1966...

 department of 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...

. Its source is Lake Otún

Lake Otún

Lake Otún is a small lake in the Nevados National Park, in the Risaralda department of Colombia. It located at an altitude of 3,900 meters and has an area of 1.5 square kilometres. The lake is of glacial origin and is fed by meltwaters from the Nevado Santa Isabel...

, fed by meltwater from Nevado Santa Isabel, and its outlet is 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...

. The Otún River passes between the cities of Pereira

Pereira, Colombia

Pereira is the capital city of the Colombian department of Risaralda. It stands in the center of the western region of the country, located in a small valley that descends from a part of the western Andes mountain chain. Its strategic location in the coffee producing area makes the city an urban...

 and Dosquebradas

Dosquebradas

Dosquebradas is the second largest city and a municipality in the Risaralda Department, Colombia. , it had a population of approximately 200,000 inhabitants. The city is connected by the César Gaviria Trujillo Viaduct to Pereira, the capital of the department....

, and is crossed at that point by the César Gaviria Trujillo Viaduct

César Gaviria Trujillo Viaduct

The César Gaviria Trujillo Viaduct is a cable-stayed bridge connecting the neighbouring cities of Pereira and Dosquebradas in Risaralda, Colombia. It is one of the longest cable-stayed bridges in South America and, at the time of its completion in 1997, ranked 20th in the world.The bridge has a...

, one of the largest cable-stayed bridge

Cable-stayed bridge

A cable-stayed bridge is a bridge that consists of one or more columns , with cables supporting the bridge deck....

s in South America.

The Otún River is the only source of drinking water for Pereira and Dosquebradas. The local water company takes about 1.8 m³/s from the river at a site known as Nuevo Libaré. Agricultural development in that region has affected the quality of the water from the river, with pig and chicken farms as well as human waste water being major sources of bacteriological contamination.

The river passes through several protected zones including the Otún Quimbaya Flora and Fauna Sanctuary.