- Oria River
Infobox River | river_name = Oria
caption = The Oria river on its way throughLasarte-Oria with mountBuruntza on the background
origin =Basque mountains
mouth =Cantabrian Sea (Bay of Biscay )
basin_countries =Spain
length = 75 km
elevation =
discharge = 25.6 m³/s
watershed = 882.5 km²The Oria (IPA: ['oɾja] ) is a river in the Basque Country at the north of the
Iberian Peninsula . It's one of a series of Basque rivers flowing into theBay of Biscay (Atlantic basin) and the main river of the provinceGipuzkoa in volume (25.6 m3/s), length (75 km) and basin (882.5 km2), the main feature of these rivers aligned south to north being their shortness. The maximum elevation at the source is 1,260 m, while at its lowest height the tidal influence extends inland up toUsurbil (estuary). On this final stretch, many marsh and wetland strips have dotted the banks of the Oria so far; sadly, some of them have been drained for agricultural and building purposes lately.It rises at the south of the municipality of
Zegama near the neighbourhood of "Otzaurte", harvesting the waters of the north-eastern side of the mountain rangeAizkorri , so the river results from the merging of several streams. The first town it crosses is the very nucleus ofZegama , with other major towns ofGipuzkoa being located on the river, egBeasain ,Ordizia ,Tolosa ,Andoain ,Lasarte-Oria ,Usurbil and finallyOrio at the mouth. FromLasarte-Oria toOrio the sinuous and traffic laden coastal road N-634 twists along.The Oria is a central river and an important axis for the province
Gipuzkoa . The major road A-1 (European route E-5 E-80) runs along the Oria most of the time, as well as the Spanish Northern Railway, right from its rise on the slopes ofAizkorri . Its watershed holds a population of 128,000 inhabitants, most of the lowland being heavily inhabited, while the area of its southernmost stretch is sparsely populated.Environmental condition and fauna
The banks of the river were intensely industrialized starting in the middle of the XIXth century and later, so the river grew conspicuously polluted up to the 80s, with almost all its river fauna becoming extinct. At that point, its environmental situation began to revert, the river showing currently a healthy condition. It should be noted that there exists an instable
trout population downstream of Andoain, while other fish prevail and remain steady, ie "Cyprinidae " such as barbel ("Barbus graellsi"), "ezkailu" ("Phoxinus phoxinus") and ray-finned fish ("Chondrostoma toxostoma arrigonis"). A stretch of the estuary by the village "Aginaga" is renown for its baby eels, bred and harvested for human consumption before they grow up, providing for a much appreciated and dearly paid for culinary dish, while they were totally neglected just some decades ago.Main tributaries
There are several streams and small rivers flowing into the Oria. The main tributaries are
Leitzaran inAndoain and Araxes in Tolosa.
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