Rio Quente

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Rio Quente
State	Goiás
Area:	256.7 km²
Population:	2,886 (IBGE 2005)
Elevation:	663m above sea level
Postal code (CEP):	75695-000
Became a city:	1989
Statistical Microregion:	Meia Ponte Microregion
Distance to Goiânia:	178 km.
Website:	not available

Rio Quente is a small town and municipality in the south of the state of Goiás, Brazil. It is the site of a hot water spa known all over the country.

1 Location
2 Political Information
3 Demographic Information
4 Economy
5 Education (2005)
6 Health (2003)
7 Water, Electricity and Sewage
8 Profile of the City
9 See also
10 Sources of Data
11 External Sources

[edit] Location

Rio Quente is 178 km. south of the state capital Goiânia and 360 km. southwest of Brasília. Nearby cities are Morrinhos, 53 km. to the west, and Caldas Novas, 28 km. to the east. Connections with Goiânia are made by BR-352 / Bela Vista de Goiás / GO-147 / Piracanjuba / GO-217 / GO-139 / GO-213 / GO-507. For a complete list of distances see Seplan

It became a municipality in 1989, dismembering itself from Caldas Novas. Rio Quente is in the Meia Ponte Microregion.

Neighboring municipalities are:

North: Caldas Novas
South: Água Limpa
East: Caldas Novas and Mairipotaba
West: Morrinhos

Rio Quente is famous for its hot water springs, which were discovered by Bartolomeu Bueno da Silva (son), in 1722 and received the name of Caldas Velhas. It is situated in a region of tropical climate--hot and humid-- with rains in the months of November to March. The average annual temperature is 23º C.

[edit] Political Information

Mayor: Rivalino de Oliveira Alves (January 2005)
Number of voters: 2,206 (April 2006)
Number of members on city council: 9

[edit] Demographic Information

Population density: 11.24 inhab/km² (2005)
Urban population: 2,135(2003)
Rural population: 350 (2003)
Population growth or loss: a gain of about 2,000 people since 1991

[edit] Economy

Economic activity is almost exclusively based on tourism, but there is some agriculture, cattle raising, small transformation industries, and government employment

Economic Data

Industrial units: 2 (10/06/2005)
Retail units: 32
Dairies: (22/05/2006)
Banking establishments: Itaú (01/06/2005)
Automobiles: 298 (2004)
Cattle: 17,517 (2004)
Poultry: 18,063 (2004)
Swine: 1,915 (2004)
Dairy cows: 3,359 (2004)
Main agricultural crops: rice (50 hectares), sugarcane, oranges, beans, manioc, corn (150 hectares), and soybeans (180 hectares).

[edit] Education (2005)

Schools: 2
Classrooms: 16
Teachers: 42
Students: 909
Middle school enrollment: 128 students
Higher education: none
Adult literacy rate: 93.3% (2000) (national average was 86.4%)

[edit] Health (2003)

Hospitals: none (Caldas Novas is nearby)
Hospital beds: none
Ambulatory clinics: 1
Doctors, nurses, dentists: 06, 0, 03 (2002)
Infant mortality rate: 23.4 (2000) (national average was 33.0).

[edit] Water, Electricity and Sewage

Electricity connections: 1,787 (2005)
Water connections: n/a (2005)
Sewage connections: n/a (2005)

[edit] Profile of the City

Despite the small territorial dimension of the municipality (257.6 km²) there is a developed agriculture with production of rice and corn and raising of dairy cattle. Nevertheless, the main source of income is in the touristic complex called Pousada do Rio Quente Resorts, which attracts thousands of tourists all year round.

One of the attractions of the Pousada is the constant renewal of all the water of the pools due to the great volume that springs from its main thermal springs. The volume of water produced by the springs results in a constant flow of 6,228,000 liters per hour, reaching a figure over 149 million liters every 24 hours.

Attractions are the hotel complex and the only river with hot-water rapids in the Americas. This river is called the Ribeirão das Aguas Quentes.

Rio Quente has one of the highest standards of living in the state of Goiás. The United Nations Human Development Index of 2000 ranks it in 7th place in the state (out of a total of 242 municipalities) and 460 nationally out of a total of 5,507 municipalities. On a scale of 0.000 to 1.000 it had a rating of 0.806.

For the complete list see Frigoletto.com