Boven Merwede river in the context of "Gorinchem"

The Beneden Merwede (Dutch pronunciation: [bəˌneːdə ˈmɛrʋeːdə]; "Lower Merwede") is a stretch of river in the Netherlands, mainly fed by the river Rhine. It starts as the continuation of the Boven Merwede after the branching-off of the Nieuwe Merwede ship canal. It flows from Hardinxveld-Giessendam to Dordrecht, where it splits into the Noord and Oude Maas rivers. Its length is 14.8 km. The river is part of the main shipping route between the port of Rotterdam and the industrial region of the Ruhr, Germany.

There is a road bridge and, more to the east, a railroad bridge between the railway stations Dordrecht Stadspolders and Hardinxveld-Giessendam on the line Dordrecht-Gorinchem.

The Nieuwe Merwede (Dutch pronunciation: [ˌniu.ə ˈmɛrʋeːdə]; "New Merwede") is a Dutch canal, mainly fed by the river Rhine, that was constructed in 1870 to form a branch in the Rhine–Meuse delta. It was dug along the general trajectories of a number of minor Biesbosch creeks to reduce the risk of flooding by diverting the water away from the Beneden Merwede, and to facilitate navigation and regulate river traffic in the increasingly silted-up delta.

It is one of several rivers called Merwede. The most upstream is the river Boven Merwede ("Upper Merwede"), itself the continuation of the Rhine-Waal river and, until 1904, the Meuse (now the closed-off Afgedamde Maas) as well. The Boven Merwede branches near the town of Hardinxveld-Giessendam into River Beneden Merwede ("Lower Merwede") to the northwest and the Nieuwe Merwede to the southwest. The Nieuwe Merwede joins River Bergse Maas near Lage Zwaluwe to form the Hollands Diep estuary, and separates the Island of Dordrecht from the Biesbosch National Park.