The Aura River (

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

''Aurajoki'';

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

''Aura å'') is a

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

in south-western

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. Its sources are in

Oripää Oripää () is a municipality of Finland. It is located in the Southwest Finland region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . The municipality is unilingually Finnish. H ...

, and it flows through

Pöytyä Pöytyä (; sv, Pöytyä, also ) is a municipality of Finland located in the Southwest Finland region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . The municipality is unilingua ...

, Aura and

Lieto Lieto (; sv, Lundo) is a a city and municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Western Finland and is part of the Southwest Finland region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The p ...

before discharging into the

Archipelago Sea The Archipelago Sea ( fi, Saaristomeri, sv, Skärgårdshavet) is a part of the Baltic Sea between the Gulf of Bothnia, the Gulf of Finland and the Sea of Åland, within Finnish territorial waters. By some definitions it contains the largest ar ...

in the middle of the city of

Turku Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...

. The waters of the Aura river are brown. The total length of the river is about , and it contains eleven

rapids Rapids are sections of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep gradient, causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence. Rapids are hydrological features between a ''run'' (a smoothly flowing part of a stream) and a ''cascade''. ...

, the biggest of which is Nautelankoski at Lieto. The reserve

tap water Tap water (also known as faucet water, running water, or municipal water) is water supplied through a tap, a water dispenser valve. In many countries, tap water usually has the quality of drinking water. Tap water is commonly used for drinking, ...

for Turku Region is drawn from the Aura, the city's secondary waterworks being situated by the Halinen rapids. The word "Aura" appears to come from an archaic

word for waterway (''aathra'', which is still current in the form ''ådra''), but in

it translates as "plough," a name the river lives up to. Situated in an agricultural zone, it is made turbid by

surface runoff Surface runoff (also known as overland flow) is the flow of water occurring on the ground surface when excess rainwater, stormwater, meltwater, or other sources, can no longer sufficiently rapidly infiltrate in the soil. This can occur when th ...

from nearby farms with

eutrophication Eutrophication is the process by which an entire body of water, or parts of it, becomes progressively enriched with minerals and nutrients, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus. It has also been defined as "nutrient-induced increase in phytopla ...

as the biggest threat. Its condition has been improving since the 1970s and the Aura river is now clean enough to support

salmon Salmon () is the common name for several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family (biology), family Salmonidae, which are native to tributary, tributaries of the ...

. The banks of the river have been inhabited for at least 6,000 years. The area is notable for the

cultural heritage Cultural heritage is the heritage of tangible and intangible heritage assets of a group or society that is inherited from past generations. Not all heritages of past generations are "heritage"; rather, heritage is a product of selection by soci ...

in Finland. The

archdiocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

of Finland has been situated near the river since the thirteenth century.

Gallery

References

Rivers of Finland Turku Aura, Finland Drainage basins of the Baltic Sea Landforms of Southwest Finland Tourist attractions in Turku {{Finland-river-stub