The Gorgol River 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...

 of southern Mauritania

Mauritania

Mauritania is a country in the Maghreb and West Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean in the west, by Western Sahara in the north, by Algeria in the northeast, by Mali in the east and southeast, and by Senegal in the southwest...

. Located in the south flowing through the Gorgol

Gorgol

Gorgol is a region in southern Mauritania. Its capital is Kaédi and the Gorgol River forms parts of the landscape. Other major cities/towns include Mbout and Maghama...

 valley, it is a tributary

Tributary

A tributary or affluent is a stream or river that flows into a main stem river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean...

 of the Senegal River

Sénégal River

The Sénégal River is a long river in West Africa that forms the border between Senegal and Mauritania.The Sénégal's headwaters are the Semefé and Bafing rivers which both originate in Guinea; they form a small part of the Guinean-Malian border before coming together at Bafoulabé in Mali...

.

The river basin plays an important in role in Mauritanian economy

Economy of Mauritania

A majority of the population of Mauritania depends on agriculture and livestock for a livelihood, even though most of the nomads and many subsistence farmers were forced into the cities by recurrent droughts in the 1970s and 1980s. Mauritania has extensive deposits of iron ore, which account for...

 facilated by investment in the 1970s. The Mauritanian government initiated an irrigation

Irrigation

Irrigation may be defined as the science of artificial application of water to the land or soil. It is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and revegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas and during periods of inadequate rainfall...

 and development scheme in 1975 for the Gorgol River valley where the dam across the Gorgol would increase arable land

Arable land

In geography and agriculture, arable land is land that can be used for growing crops. It includes all land under temporary crops , temporary meadows for mowing or pasture, land under market and kitchen gardens and land temporarily fallow...

 by over 3,600 ha (9,000 acres). This project was to be followed by other dams that together would add 30,000 ha (74,100 acres) for food production.

The Gorgol river was a source of concern amongst environmentalists from the mid 1970s with new water damming projects on the river. In 1976, Schistosomiasis

Schistosomiasis

Schistosomiasis is a parasitic disease caused by several species of trematodes , a parasitic worm of the genus Schistosoma. Snails often act as an intermediary agent for the infectious diseases until a new human host is found...

, also known as snail fever, a parasitic disease

Parasitic disease

A parasitic disease is an infectious disease caused or transmitted by a parasite. Many parasites do not cause diseases. Parasitic diseases can affect practically all living organisms, including plants and mammals...

 caused by several species of fluke

Trematoda

Trematoda is a class within the phylum Platyhelminthes that contains two groups of parasitic flatworms, commonly referred to as "flukes".-Taxonomy and biodiversity:...

  of the genus Schistosoma

Schistosoma

A genus of trematodes, Schistosoma, commonly known as blood-flukes and bilharzia, includes flatworms which are responsible for a highly significant parasitic infection of humans by causing the disease schistosomiasis, and are considered by the World Health Organization as the second most...

was believed to be increasing along the river valley resulting from disastrous Sahelian drought. A report conducted between May and November 1974, relvealed the prevalence and intensity of schistosomiasis, and the relevant species of snails. Particularly affected was the M'Bout area nearest the proposed reservoir

Reservoir

A reservoir , artificial lake or dam is used to store water.Reservoirs may be created in river valleys by the construction of a dam or may be built by excavation in the ground or by conventional construction techniques such as brickwork or cast concrete.The term reservoir may also be used to...

 and dam at Foum Gleita

Foum Gleita

Foum Gleita is a town and commune in Mauritania....

. Rates of schistisomiasis were lowest in Kaedi

Kaédi

Kaédi is a city of over 60,000 people and is the largest city and administrative center of the Gorgol region of Southern Mauritania. The city is located 16.150 degrees latitude and -13.500 degrees longitude, and is approximately 435 km from Mauritania's capital, Nouakchott.- Overview :The...

near the confluence of the Gorgol and Senegal rivers.