The Eem is a river

River

A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards 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. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...

 in the north of the Utrecht Province

Utrecht (province)

Utrecht is the smallest province of the Netherlands in terms of area, and is located in the centre of the country. It is bordered by the Eemmeer in the north, Gelderland in the east, the river Rhine in the south, South Holland in the west, and North Holland in the northwest...

 in the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 with a length of approximately 18 kilometres (11 mi).

The river is fed by the Vallei Canal and a number of Veluwe

Veluwe

The Veluwe is a forest-rich ridge of hills in the province of Gelderland in the Netherlands. The Veluwe features many different landscapes including woodland, heath, some small lakes and Europe's largest sand drifts....

 creeks, the most important of which are the Heiligenberger Beek, the Barneveldse Beek and the Lunterse Beek, all of which come together in Amersfoort

Amersfoort

Amersfoort is a municipality and the second largest city of the province of Utrecht in central Netherlands. The city is growing quickly but has a well-preserved and protected medieval centre. Amersfoort is one of the largest railway junctions in the country, because of its location on two of the...

. The river then runs through the Eem Valley to the east of Soest, Baarn

Baarn

Baarn is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of Utrecht.-The municipality Baarn :The municipality of Baarn consists of the following towns: Baarn, Eembrugge, Lage Vuursche.- The town Baarn :...

 and Eemnes

Eemnes

Eemnes is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands, in the province of Utrecht.-The town of Eemnes :Eemnes formerly consisted of two villages, Eemnes-Binnen and Eemnes-Buiten...

 before emptying into the Eemmeer

Eemmeer

The Eemmeer is a lake situated in the middle of the Netherlands between the provinces of Flevoland and Utrecht, Noord-Holland. It measures and contains one small island, the Dode Hond . The Eemmeer is one in a series of peripheral lakes used to geohydrologically detach the low-lying polders of...

. The Eem is responsible for the largest portion of the drainage of the Gelder Valley. The polder

Polder

A polder is a low-lying tract of land enclosed by embankments known as dikes, that forms an artificial hydrological entity, meaning it has no connection with outside water other than through manually-operated devices...

s of the Eem are valuable scenic landscapes.

Because of land subsidence

Subsidence

Subsidence is the motion of a surface as it shifts downward relative to a datum such as sea-level. The opposite of subsidence is uplift, which results in an increase in elevation...

 as a result of drainage

Drainage

Drainage is the natural or artificial removal of surface and sub-surface water from an area. Many agricultural soils need drainage to improve production or to manage water supplies.-Early history:...

, the primate lies higher than the surrounding land. When water levels drop in the summer, water is pumped from the Nederrijn

Nederrijn

thumb|left|300px|Course of the NederrijnNederrijn is the name of the Dutch part of the River Rhine from the confluence at the town of Angeren of the cut-off Rhine bend of Oude Rijn and the Pannerdens Kanaal...

 to the Eem through the Vallei Canal. Because of agricultural pollution carried by the Eem towards the Eemmeer

Eemmeer

The Eemmeer is a lake situated in the middle of the Netherlands between the provinces of Flevoland and Utrecht, Noord-Holland. It measures and contains one small island, the Dode Hond . The Eemmeer is one in a series of peripheral lakes used to geohydrologically detach the low-lying polders of...

, the biological richness of this lake is less than that of the other lakes which surround Flevoland

Flevoland

Flevoland is a province of the Netherlands. Located in the centre of the country, at the location of the former Zuiderzee, the province was established on January 1, 1986; the twelfth province of the country, with Lelystad as its capital...

.

The Eem gives its name to the Eemian interglacial era.