The Efrenk River (also called Suntras or Arslanlöy River in the upper reaches and Müftü River in the lower reaches) is a short river in

Mersin Province Mersin Province (), formerly İçel Province (), is a Provinces of Turkey, province and Metropolitan municipalities in Turkey, metropolitan municipality in southern Turkey, on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast between Antalya Province, A ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. It was originally called the Efrenk River. After a mosque named Müftü Mosque was built by the river in Mersin, it was popularly renamed the Müftü River.

Geography

The headwaters are in the

Toros Mountains The Taurus Mountains ( Turkish: ''Toros Dağları'' or ''Toroslar,'' Greek'':'' Ταύρος) are a mountain complex in southern Turkey, separating the Mediterranean coastal region from the central Anatolian Plateau. The system extends along a ...

, near the town of Arslanköy and the village of Atlılar (Sadiye). The river runs east and then south, flowing to the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

within the city of Mersin at . In fact the river is the borderline between the second level municipalities of Mersin; Yenişehir is to the west and

Akdeniz Akdeniz is a municipality and district of Mersin Province, Turkey. Its area is 265 km2, and its population is 255,946 (2022). It covers the central and eastern part of the city of Mersin and the adjacent countryside. History The municipal ...

and

Toroslar Toroslar is a municipality and district of Mersin Province, Turkey. Its area is 1,075 km2, and its population is 319,711 (2022). It covers the northern part of the city of Mersin and the adjacent countryside. Geography The district of Akd ...

are to the east of the river. There are five bridges within Mersin and one on the

Çukurova motorway Çukurova (), or the Cilician Plain (''Cilicia Pedias'' in antiquity), is a large fertile plain in the Cilicia region of southern Anatolia. The plain covers the easternmost areas of Mersin Province, southern and central Adana Province, western Os ...

just north of the city.

Hydrology

The

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

is only in area. But the altitudes of the headwaters are about . Thus the river flows fast. Like the other locations of the Mediterranean Region annual precipitation is mostly in the spring and the winter. So the flow rate is highly irregular depending on the season. While the average flow rate is quite low, 303 m³/s (10700 ft³/s) had been recorded during the flood of 2001.A report
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Arslanköy pond

Arslanköy Pond is an artificial pond on the upper reaches of the river. The storage capacity is 1.3 hm³ (1.7·10⁶yd³) and the total irrigation area is about 1.51 km² (0.69 mi²).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Efrenk River Rivers of Turkey Rivers of Mersin Province