The Mara is an 8 km Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 stream (or torrente

Torrente

Torrente may refer to:* Torrent, Valencia, a municipality located within the metropolitan area of the city of the Spanish city Valencia* Torrente , a Parisian haute couture fashion house founded by designer Rosette Torrente-Mett in 1969; current creative director Julien Fournie* Gonzalo Torrente...

) of Insubria

Insubria

Insubria is a historical-geographical region which corresponds to the area inhabited in Classical antiquity by the Insubres. Secondarily the name can refer to the Duchy of Milan...

, which runs through the Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 Province of Como

Province of Como

The Province of Como is a province in the north of the Lombardy region of Italy and borders the Swiss cantons of Ticino and Grigioni to the North, the Italian provinces of Sondrio and Lecco to the East, the Province of Milan to the south and the Province of Varese to the West...

 and the Swiss

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

 Canton Ticino. It rises on the slopes of Monte Sighignola and enters Lake Lugano

Lake Lugano

Lake Lugano is a glacial lake in the south-east of Switzerland, at the border between Switzerland and Italy. The lake, named after the city of Lugano, is situated between Lake Como and Lago Maggiore...

 at Maroggia

Maroggia

Maroggia is a municipality in the district of Lugano in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland.-History:Maroggia is first mentioned around 962-966 as Marogia....

.

Despite the small size of its drainage basin

Drainage basin

A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...

 the river is able to provide a source of hydro-electricity through a power station belonging to the Aziende industriali di Lugano.

The Mara’s water level is liable to rapid and unpredictable augmentation following sudden storms.