The Orco ( pms, Eva d'òr, that is lit. ''Water of gold''; la, Orgus) is an Italian

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of ...

. It originates in the

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

ese slopes of

Gran Paradiso , photo = Gran_Paradiso.jpg , photo_caption = The Gran Paradiso , elevation_m = 4061 , elevation_ref =Geoportale IGM owww.pcn.minambiente.it/ref> , prominence_m = 1879 , prominence_ref = , range = Graian Alps , parent_peak = , listing ...

and after about reaches the

Po river The Po ( , ; la, Padus or ; Ancient Ligurian: or ) is the longest river in Italy. It flows eastward across northern Italy starting from the Cottian Alps. The river's length is either or , if the Maira, a right bank tributary, is included. T ...

near Chivasso, in the

Metropolitan City of Turin The Metropolitan City of Turin ( it, Città metropolitana di Torino, Piedmontese: ''Sità metropolitan-a 'd Turin'') is a metropolitan city in the Piedmont region, Italy. Its capital is the city of Turin. It replaced the Province of Turin and ...

. Its

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

is home to the most important complex of

hydropower Hydropower (from el, ὕδωρ, "water"), also known as water power, is the use of falling or fast-running water to produce electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by converting the gravitational potential or kinetic energy of ...

in Piedmont, consisting of six major dams (Agnel, Serrù, Ceresole Reale, Teleccio, Piantonetto, Valsoera), many smaller reservoirs and numerous

turbines A turbine ( or ) (from the Greek , ''tyrbē'', or Latin ''turbo'', meaning vortex) is a rotary mechanical device that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful Work (physics), work. The work produced by a turbine can be used ...

and power stations. The Orco is known also for its

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile ...

-bearing sand, extracted already in antiquity. Even today there is a certain activity, on an amateur level, searching for grains of gold.''Oro nel fiume Orco a Feletto''
www.minieredoro.it
(accessdate: 7-6-2012)

Notes

Rivers of the Province of Turin Rivers of Italy Rivers of the Alps Braided rivers in Italy {{Italy-river-stub

See also

Notes