Sebou is a
riverA river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing toward an ocean, a lake, a sea or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water...
in northern
MoroccoMorocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country located in North Africa with a population of nearly 32 million and an area just under . Its capital is Rabat, and its largest city is Casablanca. Morocco has a coast on the Atlantic Ocean that reaches past the Strait of Gibraltar into the...
. The river is 458 kilometres long and has an average water flow of 137 m
3/s. The Sebou is the largest by volume and the second longest river in the country (after the
Oum Er-Rbia RiverOum Er-Rbia , is a river in central Morocco. The river is 555 km long and is the longest in the country. With an average water debit of 105 m3/s, Oum Er-Rbia is the second largest river in Morocco after the Sebou River. It takes source in the Middle Atlas and passes through the city of...
). The source is in the
Middle AtlasThe Middle Atlas is part of the Atlas mountain range lying in Morocco, a mountainous country with more than 100,000 km² or 22% of the surface rising above 2,000 meters. The Middle Atlas is the westernmost of three Atlas Mountains chains that define a large plateaued basin extending eastward into...
mountains. It passes near the city of
FesFes or Fez is the third largest city in Morocco, after Casablanca and Rabat with a population of 946,815 . It is the capital of the Fès-Boulemane region....
and discharges to the
Atlantic OceanThe Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about 106.4 million square kilometres , it covers approximately one-fifth of the Earth's surface and about one-quarter of its water surface area. The first part of its name refers to the Atlas of Greek...
in Mehdia. Sebou is navigable for only 20 km until the city of
KenitraKenitra is a city in Morocco, formerly known as Port Lyautey...
, which has the only river port in Morocco.
Sebou is a
riverA river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing toward an ocean, a lake, a sea or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water...
in northern
MoroccoMorocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country located in North Africa with a population of nearly 32 million and an area just under . Its capital is Rabat, and its largest city is Casablanca. Morocco has a coast on the Atlantic Ocean that reaches past the Strait of Gibraltar into the...
. The river is 458 kilometres long and has an average water flow of 137 m
3/s. The Sebou is the largest by volume and the second longest river in the country (after the
Oum Er-Rbia RiverOum Er-Rbia , is a river in central Morocco. The river is 555 km long and is the longest in the country. With an average water debit of 105 m3/s, Oum Er-Rbia is the second largest river in Morocco after the Sebou River. It takes source in the Middle Atlas and passes through the city of...
). The source is in the
Middle AtlasThe Middle Atlas is part of the Atlas mountain range lying in Morocco, a mountainous country with more than 100,000 km² or 22% of the surface rising above 2,000 meters. The Middle Atlas is the westernmost of three Atlas Mountains chains that define a large plateaued basin extending eastward into...
mountains. It passes near the city of
FesFes or Fez is the third largest city in Morocco, after Casablanca and Rabat with a population of 946,815 . It is the capital of the Fès-Boulemane region....
and discharges to the
Atlantic OceanThe Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about 106.4 million square kilometres , it covers approximately one-fifth of the Earth's surface and about one-quarter of its water surface area. The first part of its name refers to the Atlas of Greek...
in Mehdia. Sebou is navigable for only 20 km until the city of
KenitraKenitra is a city in Morocco, formerly known as Port Lyautey...
, which has the only river port in Morocco. Its most important tributaries are the
Ouergha River-History:The Ouergha River was a key battle site in the French invasion of Morocco in the year 1924. The French, encouraging the fighting of native Moroccan tribes among each other, advanced with 12,000 troops to a crossing of the Ouergha and achieved a major victory here without a shot being...
,
Baht RiverThe Baht River is a watercourse in Morocco that is tributary to the Sebou River. Also known as the Oued Baht, this river rises in the Middle Atlas mountain range.-Natural history:...
and
Inaouen RiverThe Inaouen River is a watercourse in Morocco that is tributary to the Sebou River. Also known as the Oued Baht, this river rises in the Middle Atlas mountain range...
. The river supports
irrigationIrrigation is an artificial application of water to the soil. It is usually used to assist in growing crops in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall...
in Morocco's most fertile region: the
GharbGħarb is a village located at the westernmost point of the island of Gozo, Malta, with a population of 1,160 people . It started life as a small hamlet centuries ago. You can see its ancient roots in the centre of the village where some houses have fine examples of decorated stone balconies...
.
Environmental issues
A number of water pollutants enter the Sebou River, notably including
pesticideA pesticide is a substance or mixture of substances used to kill a pest.A pesticide is any substance or mixture of substance intended for:- preventing, destroying, repelling or mitigating any pest....
s and fertilisers from agricultural
runoffSurface runoff is the water flow which occurs when soil is infiltrated to full capacity and excess water, from rain, snowmelt, or other sources flows over the land. This is a major component of the hydrologic cycle. Runoff that occurs on surfaces before reaching a channel is also called a nonpoint...
and untreated
sewageSewage is water-carried wastes, in either solution or suspension, that flow away from a community. Also known as wastewater flows, sewage is the used water supply of the community. It is more than 99.9% pure water and is characterized by its volume or rate of flow, its physical condition, its...
from towns along the river. In the upper parts of the watershed within the Middle Atlas is the prehistoric range of the endangered
primateA primate is a member of the biological order Primates , the group that contains lemurs, lorisids, galagos, tarsiers, monkeys, and apes, with the last category including great apes. With the exception of humans, who inhabit every continent on Earth, most primates live in tropical or subtropical...
Barbary macaqueThe Barbary Macaque is a macaque with only a stub of a tail. Found in the Atlas Mountains of Algeria and Morocco with a small, possibly introduced, population in Gibraltar, the Barbary Macaque is one of the best-known Old World monkey species. Besides humans, they are the only primates that live...
, which animal prehistorically had a much larger range in North Africa.
Line notes