Segre river

The Segre River is a river in the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula, the main tributary of the Ebro River. It rises on the northern slope of the Segre Peak, in the French municipality of Llo. It turns west in the Cerdanya valley and enters Spain through Catalonia. It passes through Llivia, La Seo de Urgel, Ponts, Balaguer and Lleida before flowing into the Ebro.

Its main tributaries are the Valira, the Llosa river, the Noguera Pallaresa, the Noguera Ribagorzana and the Cinca.

Toponymy

Segre derives from the ancient pre-Roman place name Sicoris or from the Latin sequere, from sequi (to follow, to flow...). In the 10th century there is already evidence of an intermediate form: Segure.

Main tributaries

From the source to the mouth of the Ebro:

Populations crossed

From the source to the mouth of the Ebro:

Hydraulic infrastructures

Reservoirs

Dam of the Rialb reservoir

These are the dams built along the course of the river:

• Rialb reservoir: 402,8 hm3.
• Oliana reservoir: 101.1 hm3.
• San Lorenzo de Montgai reservoir: 10 hm3.

The following swamps are not located in its course but rather in the channels that take the water from it:

• Albagés reservoir (Canal Segarra-Garrigues): 79.8 hm3 (in construction).
• Utxesa reservoir (Seros channel): 4 hm3.

Sports

At the height of Seo de Urgel, canoeing championships are held in the Segre.

In Mequinenza, the area where the rivers Ebro, Segre and Cinca meet, has a regatta course that is considered one of the best in all of Europe due to its excellent accessibility, its stable water surface and its sports facilities. The Oxford and Cambridge teams prepare their legendary regatta here, as well as various world teams carry out different preparation stages for international competitions. The Club Capri Nautical Campus is a paradise for practicing water sports in Aragon as well as the venue for different competitions regional and national. One of the most spectacular tests is the International Descent of Cinca, a competitive and popular test starting in Fraga and finishing in Mequinenza in which more than 1,000 paddlers from all over the world participate.