The Salado's drainage basin is about 170,000 square kilometres (66,000 sq mi), which is over half of the province's area. The region receives an annual average of 2,000 millimetres (79 in) of precipitation, which often causes flooding in the low-lying area. The river flows by the cities of Junín, Roque Pérez, and General Belgrano, as well as a number of wetlands and lakes; channelization of the lower course has improved the drainage of the river's 88 cubic metres per second (3,100 cu ft/s). Nearly 1 million people live in the basin.
Hydrological studies have been performed in the Salado basin, principally in the Azul, Buenos Aires creek basin by the Instituto de Hidrologia de Llanuras de Azul.[2] Ecological studies have been done by the Ecology group of Facultad de Agronomía de la UNICEN.[3][4]
Because Argentina has another, more important Salado River, in the northern part of the country, this Salado River is sometimes called Salado del Sur ("Southern Salado").