Agano River

View of the River

The Agano (Japanese阿 贺 野 川, -gawa, in Fukushima also Aga (阿贺川, -gawa ) or Ōkawa (大川) ) is a river in Japan.

It flows from Fukushima Prefecture in the Niigata Prefecture. It is 210 km long and has a catchment area of ​​7710 km ².

The source of the river lies on the mountain Arakai on the border prefectures Fukushima and Tochigi. It flows north and receives inflow from Nippashi (日 桥 川, -gawa ) from Inawashiro Lake and then from Tadami Aizu Basin. Then he turns to the west and falls into the Sea of ​​Japan. At the mouth he has with 451 m³ / s the greatest flow of all Japanese rivers.

In the 1960s, the company Showa Denko contaminated the river with mercury and caused the Niigata Minamata disease ( Niigata Minamata disease (新泻 水 俣 病, Niigata Minamata byō ), also second Minamata disease (第二 水 俣 病, Dai -ni Minamata byō ) below).