river, Rio Grande do Sul estado (“state”), southern Brazil. It rises in the hills east of Passo Fundo and flows southward and eastward for 280 miles (450 km), receiving the Taquari, Caí, Sinos, and Gravataí rivers near its mouth. There, at Porto Alegre, the state capital, on the Atlantic coast, it forms the Guaíba River, a shallow estuary emptying into the north end of the Patos Lagoon.

Navigable for rivercraft as far upstream as Cachoeira do Sul, it is one of the most heavily used river barge systems in Brazil, carrying large tonnages from the São Jerônimo coal basin to seaports and transporting rice and other crops cultivated in the rich agricultural lowland region that it drains. The Itaúba hydroelectric plant was built on the Jacuí River in the late 1970s.