Its source is in Tromba Mountain,[2] between the municipalities of Piatã and Rio de Contas,( 13°16'48 S - 41°47'02 O ) passing through the cities of Abíra, Jussiape, Dom Basílio, Tanhaçu, Jequié (where the Pedras Dam was erected), Jitaúna, Ipiaú, Itagibá, Barra do Rocha, Ubatã, Ubaitaba and Aurelino Leal, to finally to its mouth in the Atlantic Ocean in Itacaré.

It is one of the sixteen hydrographic basins of the Brazilian state of Bahia, and is subordinate administratively to the National Department of Works to Combat Drought (DNOCS).

[3] It encompasses a territory of 55,334 square kilometres (21,365 sq mi), with a population of 1,423,153 inhabitants (in 1991).

Its economic uses are varied: irrigation, energy production, mining, and supplying the cities in its perimeter.

[2] Its limits: in west by the São Francisco Basin; in east by the Atlantic Ocean; in South by do Rio Pardo and Rio Colônia basins and the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais; and in North by the basins of the Paraguaçu River and Jequiriçá River.