The DâmboviÃÂa () is a river in Romania. It has its sources on the CurmÃÂtura Oticului, a mountain pass that separates the Iezer Mountains from the FÃÂgÃÂraàMountains proper. It passes through Bucharest and flows into the river Argeànear BudeÃÂti, in CÃÂlÃÂraÃÂi County. Its length is and its basin size is . DâmboviÃÂa County is named after the river.
The name of the DâmboviÃÂa is of Slavic origin, derived from Common Slavic ' (ôëñÃÂ), meaning "oak", as it once flowed through the oak forests of the Wallachian Plain. Its upper course, upstream from the Valea Vladului, is also called Valea BoarcÃÂÃÂului.
For centuries, DâmboviÃÂa was the main source of drinking water for the city of Bucharest. While there were a few dozen water wells, most of the water in Bucharest was distributed by water-carriers.
Bucharest folklore mentions the waters of DâmboviÃÂa as "sweet", and even at the beginning of the 18th century, Anton Maria del Chiaro considered it "light and clean". However, toward the end of the 18th century, as the population of Bucharest increased, the river ceased to be as clean, and hence the need of the aqueducts. The earliest aqueducts with public fountains (ciÃÂmele) were built during the rule of Prince Alexander Ypsilantis.
Many watermills were built on the DâmboviÃÂa, most of them owned by the prince, the monasteries or boyars.
DâmboviÃÂa used to have two tributaries in Bucharest:
Additionally, there was a branch, GârliÃÂa, which formed an island, Ostrovu.
The DâmboviÃÂa often flooded Bucharest, especially the left bank, which was lower. After the great 1775 flood, Ypsilantis ordered a branch canal to be built, in order to prevent, or at least diminish the effects of such flooding; in 1813, Prince Ioan Caragea decided to clean up the river bed. The portion of the river flowing through the capital was channelled twice: in 1883 (to combat regular floods), and in the late 1970s, to aid in the replanning of the Central area and the construction of the Bucharest Metro. To prevent floods, in 1986 a dam was built between the CrângaÃÂi and Militari quarters, and Morii Lake artificial lake was created.
DâmboviÃÂa has never been navigable, but there has been an unsuccessful attempt in 1902 to introduce boats on the river.
Early in its history, Bucharest had few bridges over the DâmboviÃÂa, as the right bank was only sparsely populated. The estates of some boyars used to extend on both banks of the river and they had footbridges. Currently, there are sixteen bridges over DâmboviÃÂa River in central Bucharest.
The DâmboviÃÂa was polluted before the opening in 2011 of the Glina Wastewater Station, the biggest ecological project in Romania, which treats the sewage water that pours into the channel which is built below the river floor. Before entering Bucharest, the river's water is already treated by the company "Compania de ApàTârgoviÃÂte". After exiting Bucharest, the DâmboviÃÂa water were polluted, due to the hundreds of millions of cubic meters of raw sewage that were dumped every year directly into the channel below the river, but now the quality of water is much improved.
In Bucharest, the river is vertically divided into 2 separated parts. In the lower part, under the DâmboviÃÂa river floor, there is a channel which contains the sewage from the city. The two flows join into a single flow when exiting Bucharest. There are river plants and fish that live in the upper side of the river and sometimes one can even see some fishermen on the shores.
The quality of the water was very much improved as of October 10, 2011 with the opening of Glina Wastewater Station, which is the first sewage treatment plant of Bucharest, with a capacity of , while a second one, which will clean all the water (with a capacity of 12 m<sup>3</sup>/s) should be finalized by 2015.
The following rivers are tributaries to the river DâmboviÃÂa (from source to mouth):
Left: Valea Vladului, Berevoiu, LuÃÂele Mari, LuÃÂele Mici, Valea lui Aron (Comisu), Valea Comisului, Pârâul NemÃÂoaicelor, RÃÂchita, Valea lui Stanciu, Valea Turcilor, TÃÂmaÃÂul, Valea DragoslÃÂvenilor, Valea lui Ivan, Valea LargÃÂ, Valea SeacÃÂ, Valea Speriatei, Valea Gruiului, Berila, Dâmbovicioara, Valea OrÃÂÃÂiilor, Valea Cheii, Ghimbav, Valea Luncii, Valea Caselor, Hotarul, OlÃÂneasca, Valea Runcului, Valea Jocii, Valea BÃÂdenilor, Valea Grecului, Valea lui Coman, Valea Chiliilor, Valea PleÃÂei, Valea MÃÂgurii, Valea Vlazilor, Valea Ulmului, Valea LargÃÂ, Râul Alb, GârliÃÂa Satului, Ilfov, Bâldana, Colentina, PasÃÂrea
Right: ColÃÂii lui Andrei, Izvorul FoiÃÂorului, Valea Barbului, Izvorul Hotarului, Pârâul Larg, Valea lui Aron (Dracsin), BÃÂlÃÂatul, Dracsin, Cascue, Pârâul CÃÂciulelor, Valea ÃÂaului, ClÃÂbucet, Oncioaia, Valea ArÃÂiÃÂei, RâuÃÂor, Valea Frasinului, Stoeneasca, MuÃÂcel, Aninoasa, CâlnÃÂu, Gruiu
The river flows through the following communes, towns and cities: RucÃÂr, Dragoslavele, StoeneÃÂti, Malu cu Flori, CândeÃÂti, Vulcana-BÃÂi, VoineÃÂti, MÃÂneÃÂti, DragomireÃÂti, Lucieni, Nucet, ConÃÂeÃÂti, LunguleÃÂu, Chiajna, Bucharest (city), PlÃÂtÃÂreÃÂti, VasilaÃÂi, BudeÃÂti (town).