El Río Limay / The Limay River

El Río Limay es un río importante que tiene pendiente desde la cordillera de los Andes hacia el valle, llegando a la región del Comahue,donde es afluente con el Río Neuquén del Río Negro.
Éste río , de aguas profundas y claras provenientes de deshielos y de los lagos tiene lo largo de su curso instaladas represas hidroeléctricas : Alicurá, Piedra del Águila, Pichi Picún Leufú, El Chocón,y Arroyito junto con Cerros Colorados.

The Limay River is an important river in the northwestern Argentine Patagonia (the region of Comahue)The river serves as natural limit between the provinces of Río Negro and Neuquén. Its deep waters are clear, and carry a large flow (700 m³/s on average). Its drainage basin has an area of 61,723 km² and includes almost all the rivers and streams of the Atlantic basin in the region, as well as an extensive network of lakes.





The waters of the Limay are used to generate hydroelectricity at the five dams built on its course: Alicurá, Piedra del Águila, Pichi Picún Leufú, El Chocón, and Arroyito; together with the Cerros Colorados Complex on the Neuquén River they contribute with more than one quarter of the total hydroelectric generation in the country. The construction of the successive dams and reservoirs has reduced the length of the river (originally about 450 km). Next to it, at the town of Arroyito, was constructed in the 1980s the only heavy water plant in South America.