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Geographic Description Location
and Topography
The
Municipality of Lajas is located in the southwestern part of
Puerto Rico. It borders the municipality of San German in the
north, The Caribbean Sea in the south, Guánica and Sabana
Grande in the east, and the municipality of Cabo Rojo in the
west. It is composed of 11 neighborhoods (barrios).
It's area cover approximately 60.1 square miles. It is among the
first 16 municipalities of the major territorial expansion.
Lajas
comprises the geographic regions known as Valle de Lajas (Lajas
Valley) and las Lomas de Sudoeste (the Southwestern Hills).
Its territory extends in a vast plain between two lines of
parallel hills: Las Lomos de Santa Marta (The Hills of Santa
Marta) to the North, and Sierra Bermeja (Brownish-red Mountains)
mountain range to the South. It is in the later where it reaches
its highest point with an elevation of approximately 1.000
feet. Its average elevation is 40 feet above sea level. There
are two natural wonders in Lajas. They are the Fluorescent
Bay in La Parguera and Laguna Cartegena between the barrios
(neighborhoods) of Llanos and Parlmarejo The Land: The plain that includes the territory of Lajas
was the last region of the island to emerge from the oceans.
As a result of this submersion, low elevation and low slope, the
drainage is deficient in some places and the ground has a high
level of saltpeter. The Rainfall is 38 inches on average per
year. The climate in the southeast is the driest in Puerto Rico
allowing for the production of salt along the cost from Ponce to
Boqueron. The Valle de Lajas (Valley of Lajas) lacks rivers.
To the east of the valley is the Rió Loco de Yauco and to the
north the Ganajibo; to whom the poetess Maria Cadilla de
Martinez named Rió Pirata (the Pirate River) because it steals
the eastern currents and send them to the south. Very fertile
areas exist, and others have been rehabilitated for cultivation
as a result of the Proyecto de Riego del Valle de Lajas (Lajas
Valley Irrigation Project) established in the 1950s. This
consists of a main canal that starts at a dam regulating the Rió
Loco until the entrance to the Valle de Lajas, along the
northern border of the valley, next to the base of the hills in
Boquerón. From several lateral branches the land south of
the main canal are served. |
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