Venta (river)

The Venta (Latvian pronunciation [ˈvænta], Lithuanian [venˈta] (listen), German: Windau, Polish: Windawa, Livonian Vǟnta joug) is a river in north-western Lithuania and western Latvia. Its source is near Kuršėnai in the Lithuanian Šiauliai County. It flows into the Baltic Sea at Ventspils in Latvia.

This article is about the river. For the city in Lithuania, see Venta.

Venta
The Venta river in Kuldīga
Location
Country	Latvia (67%), Lithuania (33%)
Physical characteristics
Source
• location	near Užventis, Lithuania
Mouth
• location	Baltic Sea at Ventspils, Latvia.
Length	346 km (215 mi) (178 km or 111 mi in Latvia)
Basin size	11,800 km^2 (4,600 sq mi)
Discharge
• average	44 m^3/s (1,600 cu ft/s)

On the territory of Lithuania along the Venta are cities Užventis, Kuršėnai, Venta, Viekšniai and Mažeikiai. In Latvia, the cities of Kuldīga, Piltene and Ventspils are located on the Venta river.

Venta has the widest waterfall in Europe — Venta Rapid.

River has only one tributary longer than 100 km, the Abava. Other major tributaries include the Virvyčia (99.7 km) and the Varduva (96 km), which flows into the Venta at the Latvia–Lithuania border.

Smaller tributaries include the Avižlys, which runs for 20 kilometers and flows into the Venta River[1] at Akmenė district municipality, Šiauliai County, northern Lithuania.

Map over the river

See also

• Ventas rumba

References

1. "LIETUVOS RESPUBLIKOS UPIŲ IR TVENKINIŲ KLASIFIKATORIUS (Republic of Lithuania- River and Pond Classifications)" (PDF) (in Lithuanian). Ministry of Environment (Lithuania). Retrieved 2011-11-03.