The Iecava 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 ...

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

, in the regions of

Selonia Selonia ( lv, Sēlija; lt, Sėla), also known as Augšzeme (the "Highland"), is one of the Historical Latvian Lands encompassing the eastern part of the historical region of Semigallia ( lv, Zemgale) as well as a portion of northeastern Lithuania ...

and

Semigallia Semigallia, also spelt Semigalia, ( lv, Zemgale; german: Semgallen; lt, Žiemgala; pl, Semigalia; liv, Zemgāl) is one of the Historical Latvian Lands located in the south of the Daugava river and the north of the Saule region of Samogitia. ...

. Its

source Source may refer to: Research * Historical document * Historical source * Source (intelligence) or sub source, typically a confidential provider of non open-source intelligence * Source (journalism), a person, publication, publishing institute o ...

is formed from several springs in Daudzese Parish,

Aizkraukle Municipality Aizkraukle Municipality ( lv, Aizkraukles novads) is a municipality in Vidzeme, Latvia. The municipality was formed in 2001 by merging town Aizkraukle and Aizkraukle Parish the administrative centre being Aizkraukle. The population in 2020 was 8, ...

. Its mouth is located 4 km below the town of

Jelgava Jelgava (; german: Mitau, ; see also other names) is a state city in central Latvia about southwest of Riga with 55,972 inhabitants (2019). It is the largest town in the region of Zemgale (Semigalia). Jelgava was the capital of the united Duch ...

on the

Lielupe The Lielupe ( in Latvian literally: ''Large River'', lt, Lielupė, german: Kurländische Aa) is a river in central Latvia. Its length is (the length would reach if the Mēmele River were counted as part of the Lielupe). The surface area of ...

river. The Iecava river flows through Taurkalne and Upmale plains of Middle Latvia lowlands () where its river banks are mainly

wooded A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with trees, or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the ''plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade (see ...

. Near the town of Iecava it crosses the Zemgale plain and it reaches Lielupe river in Tīreļi plain, both in Middle Latvia lowlands, too.Latvijas ģeogrāfijas atlants - Latvia geography atlas. "Jāņa sēta", 2020 Administratively, it flows through districts Aizkraukle, Bauska and Jelgava (in borders since 2021). The main water source (more than 50%) for the Iecava is meltwater from melting

snow Snow comprises individual ice crystals that grow while suspended in the atmosphere—usually within clouds—and then fall, accumulating on the ground where they undergo further changes. It consists of frozen crystalline water throughout ...

, whereas water from

groundwater Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available freshwater in the world is groundwater. A unit of rock or an unconsolidate ...

s is minimal (4-5%); as a result the river is usually in spate in the springs and has low water level in

summer Summer is the hottest of the four temperate seasons, occurring after spring and before autumn. At or centred on the summer solstice, the earliest sunrise and latest sunset occurs, daylight hours are longest and dark hours are shortest, wit ...

s. To combat the spring flooding, the river has been largely straightened and the bed deepened. A canal was dug 19 km above the old mouth to Lielupe, which drains part of the waters of Iecava. The rest flows into the Lielupe through the former bed, which is now called Veciecava ("Old Iecava") at this stage. The Iecava has around 400 tributaries (including rivers, streams and ditches), the biggest of them are: Left bank:
Kuma - 6 km
Ģirupe - 12 km

Smārde Smārde (German: ''Schmarden'') is a village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a ...

- 12 km
Ģedulis - 11 km
Īkstrums - 23 km:
Right bank:
Sudmaļupe - 6 km
Svētupe 6 km
Dzērvīte - 11 km
Briede - 10 km
Vēršupe - 15 km
Smakupe 26 km
Jāņupe - 20 km
Biržiņa - 16 km
Misa - 108 km

References

External links

{{Main tributaries of Lielupe river Rivers of Latvia Aizkraukle Municipality Bauska Municipality Jelgava Municipality Selonia Semigallia *Main