There are several dams with reservoirs along its course, including the Embalse de Zahara and the Embalse de Bornos.[3] The "Sierra Greenway", a 36-kilometre (22 mi) bicycle path reclaimed from an abandoned railroad line, also passes along the river.
The river may have been the location of the Battle of Guadalete in 711, at which the Visigothic army was defeated by an invading Muslim army, leading to the conquest of Iberia by the Umayyad Caliphate. The river was once the frontier between Christian and MoorishIberia, receiving the sobriquet Río de los Muertos (river of the dead).[citation needed]