Oum Er-Rbia ( Berber: ⴰⵙⵉⴼ ⵏ ⵉⵙⴰⴼⴻⵏ, ar, أم الربيع, "the mother of springtime", spelling Oum el- rbia, is a large, long and high-throughput river in central

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

. The river is long. With an average water throughput of 105 m³/s, Oum Er-Rbia is the second-largest river in Morocco after the

Sebou River Sebou (Berber language, Berber: Asif en Sbu, ar, سبو) is a river in northern Morocco. At its source in the Middle Atlas mountains it is known as the Guigou River (Berber: Asif n Gigu). The river is 496 kilometers long and has an average wat ...

. It originates in the

Middle Atlas The Middle Atlas (Amazigh: ⴰⵟⵍⴰⵙ ⴰⵏⴰⵎⵎⴰⵙ, ''Atlas Anammas'', Arabic: الأطلس المتوسط, ''al-Aṭlas al-Mutawassiṭ'') is a mountain range in Morocco. It is part of the Atlas mountain range, a mountainous region ...

and passes through the city of

Khénifra Khenifra ( Berber: ''Xnifṛa'', ⵅⵏⵉⴼⵕⴰ, ar, خنيفرة) is a city in northern central Morocco, surrounded by the Atlas Mountains and located on the Oum Er-Rbia River. National Highway 8 also goes through the town. The population, a ...

, arriving at its mouth at the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

at the port of

Azemmour Azemmour or Azammur ( ar, أزمور, azammūr; ber, ⴰⵣⵎⵎⵓⵔ, azemmur, lit=wild olive tree) is a Moroccan city, lying at the Atlantic ocean coast, on the left bank of the Oum Er-Rbia River, 75 km southwest of Casablanca. Etymo ...

, located on its left bank. Oum Er-Rbia has six dams, the most important of which is

Al Massira Dam The Al Massira Dam is a gravity dam located south of Settat on the Oum Er-Rbia River in Settat Province, Morocco. Completed in 1979, the dam provides water for the irrigation of over of farmland in the Doukkala region. The dam's hydroelectric po ...

. Its most important

tributaries A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage b ...

are

El-Abid River The El Abid River ( (Arabic for "Slaves' River") is a river in Morocco, near Douar El. The El-Abid River has an average elevation of above sea level. It rises in the High Atlas Mountains and enters the Atlantic Ocean at Azemmour west of Casab ...

, Tessaoute River, and

Lakhdar River Lakhdar is a given name and may refer to: * Lakhdar Adjali (born 1972), Algerian football manager and former player *Lakhdar Belloumi (born 1958), former Algerian football player and manager * Lakhdar Bentaleb (born 1988), Algerian football player ...

. The historical Berber nickname of the river was Asif n Isaffen, meaning "the river of rivers". According to scholars, the original Berber common name of the river is Wansifen and was only changed recently, circa 16th or 17th century, and a nearby village called Oum Rabia might have influenced this change. Oum Er-Rbia is fed by a large number of groundwater springs. The area near its headwaters is called "The Forty Springs" as a result, although that is a poetic term rather than an exact count.

Gallery

File:Sources d'Oum Rabii 1.JPG, This cascade forms one of the sources of the Oum Er-Rbia, near

File:Sources d'Oum Rabii é.JPG, Structures along the Oum Er-Rbia File:Azemmour from Oum Er-Rbia.jpg,

from the Oum Er-Rbia File:Oum Er R'bia.jpg, The Oum Er-Rbia river

References

Rivers of Morocco {{Morocco-river-stub