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In Colombia, the largest percentage of tanneries is located in Cundinamarca, exactly in the municipality of Villapinzon, which is the focus of study because it uses the upper basin of the Bogotá River as receiver source of wastewater discharge. The tanneries are one of the productive sectors that have the greatest negative impact on the water resource, specifically, the unhairing process that uses 1:1 mass ratio (skin-water). Based on this, the aim of this study was the evaluation of the impact of reusing the residual liquors generated in the unhairing process without altering the quality of the final product, through tests at pilot plant level of the process without sulfur and mixed to salted hides. The discharges generated by the process without sulfur were recirculated directly, while the mixed hire discharges had a pre-treatment of oxidation, coagulation and sedimentation, both discharges were monitored by measuring four physicochemical parameters of sanitary interest. The obtained results showed that the recirculation of the water on unhairing process did not increase the costs, by contrast, it represents savings and diminishes the negative environmental impact generated in the upper basin of the Bogotá River, considering that the approximate volume of reuse of water is 50%, confirming the proposed hypothesis about the recirculation of effluents from this process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]