The source of the River Darro

The Darro River is a short Spanish river that runs entirely through the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Tributary of the Genil River, which in turn is a tributary of the Guadalquivir, therefore belonging to the hydrographic basins of these rivers.

The two original springs supplying water to the source are born in the Sierra de Huétor Santillán, the Cala de los Mármoles that gave life to the source and the Fuente la Teja, currently they are dry, its main source emanates in front of it a little more below, in the area known as Fuente la Teja, in the Sierra de la Alfaguara, and for this reason it is still said that the water comes from said source, its name comes from the tile that it has on top. Downstream it is joined by the Colmenar river and its main tributaries, the Beas river, which has its source in Beas de Granada, and the Belén stream. The union of these rivers already occurs in the municipal term of the city of Granada, specifically in the Cortijo de Cortes. It is a small river with a length of 16km, but with a constant flow, maintaining its average level even in times of great drought. Until 1990 crabs and trout could be found in this river, but they became almost completely extinct in the middle of that decade due to the great drought that devastated Spain; however, in the last years of the second decade of the 21st century, trout have been seen again even as they pass through the urban center of the city of Granada, which denotes the recovery of the quality of these waters.

In the vicinity of the confluence of its tributary Arroyo de Belén, there has been at least since the 13th century a dam from which the Alhambra's Royal Acequia takes its waters, which supplies the monumental complex. Although the collection of water from this river, together with the Aguas Blancas, could date back to Roman times, since there is evidence above the Granada neighborhood of Lancha del Genil, that the Romans extracted gold by the ruina montium procedure, undoing the mountain by injecting pressurized water from these rivers introduced through small galleries and holes.

Get directions from where you are now. Works on smartphones with location active.