The Berdan River, also called the Tarsus River (Latin:Cydnus), is a river in Mersin Province

Mersin Province

The Mersin Province is a province in southern Turkey, on the Mediterranean coast between Antalya and Adana. The provincial capital is the city of Mersin and the other major town is Tarsus, birthplace of St Paul...

, south Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

. The historical city of Tarsus

Tarsus (city)

Tarsus is a historic city in south-central Turkey, 20 km inland from the Mediterranean Sea. It is part of the Adana-Mersin Metropolitan Area, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in Turkey with a population of 2.75 million...

 is by the river.

Geography

The main headwaters are in the Toros Mountains. There are two main tributaries: Kadıncık and Pamukluk (its upper reaches are called Cehennem Deresi). Total length of the river is 124 kilometres (77.1 mi) (including Kadıncık). Although the river is quite short, the average flow rate is 42 m³/s, which is higher than most short rivers in the vicinity. The drainage basin is 1592 km². It flows to the Mediterranean Sea

Mediterranean Sea

The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...

 at 36.47°N 34.50°E. Just north of Tarsus there is a waterfall on the river, which is a popular picnic area for Tarsus residents.

Dams

There are four dams on Berdan. These are used both for controlling floods and for producing electricity. But the lower reaches of the river flow in an agricultural area, and because of the pollution caused by fertilisers the dams in the lower reaches are not used for drinking water.

Name of the dam	Constraction date	Installed power, MW
Kadıncık I	1971	70
Kadıncık II	1974	56
Berdan	1996	10
Pamuk	2003	23.9

Trivia

The Berdan River flows in one of the warmest regions of Turkey, but its upper reaches in the Toros Mountains make the water much cooler than the surrounding streams. History has two very well known accounts of heath problems caused by swimming in the river. In 333 BC Alexander the Great and in 833 AD Caliph Al-Ma'mun

Al-Ma'mun

Abū Jaʿfar Abdullāh al-Māʾmūn ibn Harūn was an Abbasid caliph who reigned from 813 until his death in 833...

both swam in the river and both fell ill (pneumonia?); Al Mamun died of the illness.