Lek River
Encyclopedia
The Lek 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 western 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...

 of some 60 km in length. It is the continuation of 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...

 after the Kromme Rijn
Kromme Rijn
The Kromme Rijn is a river in Utrecht , Netherlands.In Roman times, this northernmost branch of the Rhine delta was the main distributary of this major European river...

 branches off at the town of Wijk bij Duurstede
Wijk bij Duurstede
- The city of Wijk bij Duurstede :The city is located on the Rhine. At Wijk bij Duurstede, the Kromme Rijn branches off, and the main branch is called Lek River downstream from Wijk bij Duurstede....

. The main westbound waterway
Waterway
A waterway is any navigable body of water. Waterways can include rivers, lakes, seas, oceans, and canals. In order for a waterway to be navigable, it must meet several criteria:...

 is hereafter called the Lek River. The Nederrijn is, itself, a distributary
Distributary
A distributary, or a distributary channel, is a stream that branches off and flows away from a main stream channel. They are a common feature of river deltas. The phenomenon is known as river bifurcation. The opposite of a distributary is a tributary...

 branch of river Rhine.

The name "Lek" is derived either from the Middle Dutch
Middle Dutch
Middle Dutch is a collective name for a number of closely related West Germanic dialects which were spoken and written between 1150 and 1500...

 words "lake" and "leek", meaning "watercourse".

Portions of the river form the boundary between the provinces of Utrecht and Gelderland, and between Utrecht and South Holland.

In Roman times, the Nederrijn flowed into the Kromme Rijn and these streams were the main outflow of the river Rhine. When the Kromme Rijn began to silt up in the Middle Ages, the Lek became the primary branch. A short distance past Wijk bij Duurstede, the river intersects with the Amsterdam-Rhine Canal
Amsterdam-Rhine Canal
The Amsterdam–Rhine Canal or Amsterdam-Rijnkanaal is a canal in the Netherlands that was built to connect the port city of Amsterdam to the main shipping artery of the Rhine...

, which continues south towards the Waal. A branch of this canal, the Lekkanaal (Lek Canal) is connected to the river at the town of Nieuwegein
Nieuwegein
Nieuwegein is a municipality and city in the Dutch province of Utrecht. It is bordered on the north by the city of Utrecht, the provincial capital...

.

Other major towns on its banks are Culemborg
Culemborg
Culemborg is a municipality and a city in the centre of the Netherlands. The city is situated just south of the Lek River...

, Vianen, Schoonhoven
Schoonhoven
Schoonhoven is a city and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The municipality has a population of 12,195 , and covers an area of 6.96 km²...

, Nieuw-Lekkerland
Nieuw-Lekkerland
Nieuw-Lekkerland is a town and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. It is situated on the southern shores of the Lek River, in the north-western part of the Alblasserwaard...

 and Lekkerkerk
Lekkerkerk
Lekkerkerk is a town and former municipality on the Lek River, now part of the municipality Nederlek, South Holland province, the Netherlands. Since 1 January 1985 Lekkerkerk is no longer is an independent municipality....

. The bed of the river lies slightly higher than the surrounding lands and dikes are therefore essential to contain the Lek. At the village of Kinderdijk
Kinderdijk
Kinderdijk is a village in the Netherlands, belonging to the municipality of Nieuw-Lekkerland, in the province South Holland, about 15 km east of Rotterdam. Kinderdijk is situated in a polder at the confluence of the Lek and Noord rivers. To drain the polder, a system of 19 windmills was built...

 the Lek meets the Noord River and the combined stream is thereafter known as the Nieuwe Maas
Nieuwe Maas
The Nieuwe Maas distributary of the Rhine River, and a former distributary of the Maas River, in the Dutch province of South Holland. It runs from the confluence of the rivers Noord and Lek, and flows west through Rotterdam. It ends west of the city where it meets the Oude Maas , near Vlaardingen,...

 as it flows down towards the North Sea
North Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...

.

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