The Stryama (Bulgarian: Стряма [ˈstrʲamɐ], known in Antiquity as Syrmus) is a river in southern Bulgaria, an important left tributary of the Maritsa.

The river then turns east and southeast, enters the Karlovo Valley and crosses its southern reaches in a wide shallow riverbed.

Near the village of Ivan Vazovo part of the river's waters are diverted artificially into a major irrigation canal, which flows independently into the Maritsa.

[2] The river has caused large floods in the past and as a result its whole riverbed in the Upper Thracian Plain is corrected with protective dikes.

Its waters are utilised for irrigation for the intensive agriculture in the Upper Thracian Plain and the Karlovo Valley and are diverted in several large canals.