Guadalfeo

The Guadalfeo is a small river in the province of Granada, Spain between the Sierra Nevada mountain range and the coastal ranges of Sierra de la Contraviesa and Lújar.

This river is formed by the merging of three rivers, the Rio Poqueira, Río Trevélez, and Cádiar. The Poqueira and the Trevélez join shortly before the confluence with the Cádiar near the town of Órgiva. The river flows through the region of La Alpujarra for much of its course and enters the Mediterranean Sea between Salobreña and Motril after passing through a spectacular gorge between the Lújar and Chaparal mountains.

The Rules dam was recently built across the river near Vélez de Benaudalla at the head of the gorge, resulting in the creation of a large reservoir and the flooding of a section of the river valley.

The canalised river is often dried up by the time it reaches the delta, but it supports the Motril-Salobreña aquifer, the waters of which are used for agricultural purposes and maintain a small wetland, the Charca de Suárez.^[1]