JUCAR RIVER

river in eastern Spain, rising in the Universales Mountains north of Cuenca. It flows in a southerly, then easterly, direction for 309 miles (498 km) through Cuenca, Albacete, and Valencia provincias and into the Gulf of Valencia, at Cullera. Beyond Cuenca its valley widens and then narrows into a series of gorges as the river plunges over the edge of the Central Mesa (Meseta Central). The Alarcn dam is in its upper course. The waters of the Jcar irrigate a large section of the plain of La Ribera from Alberique to the lagoon of La Albufera, mostly under orange groves and rice fields. The stream has had a great tendency to flood.