List of rivers of Lithuania

Šventoji River near Vepriai

Rivers of Lithuania are typical lowland rivers: they are slow, they make meanders, the valleys are wide. Because of abundant precipitation, the river net is dense: on the average 0.99 km of rivers flow in 1 km² of the territory.^[1] However, the rivers are not evenly distributed. The highest density is in the Samogitian Highlands where it rains more often and in the northern Lithuania where the soil has clay and it does not allow the water to drain underground. The lowest density is in the southeastern Lithuania where the soil has a lot sand and the rainwater quickly ooze into the underground.

Almost 70% (some 49,600 km²) of the territory of Lithuania are drained by the Neman River and its tributaries. The other 5 river basins are small and located nears the borders: Mūša-Nemunėlis (Lielupe; 8,976 km²), Venta (5,140 km²), Daugava (1,857 km²), small rivers flowing into the Baltic Sea (2,523 km²) and Pregolya (54 km²). During the winter all rivers freeze over. In the spring almost all rivers flood from melting snow and ice. However, usually only in the Neman River delta the water bursts out of the valley. Nowadays floods are controlled by dams and also due to drainage most rivers have lower water levels than they used to have. In the western Lithuania rivers tend to irregularly flood during the fall because of excessive rains. In the eastern Lithuania rivers tend to discharge a constant amount of water because they are regulated by flow-through lakes and sandy soil, which quickly absorbs any excess rain or snow water.

During the Soviet times (1945-1990) rivers suffered a lot of damage because of drainage. Many swamps were drained and now they cannot feed the rivers anymore. Other smaller rivers were straightened and turned into drainage canals.

Lithuania counts around 29 thousand watercourses, longer than 0.25 km. The total length of all these watercourses would be around 65,000 km. The number of rivers and rivulets longer than 3 km has been calculated very precisely – 4,418. 758^[2] rivers are longer than 10 km. Lithuania has 21 rivers longer than 100 km (62 mi):

Longest rivers

#	Name	Length (km)		Mouth	Most important cities
		Total	In Lithuania
1	Nemunas	937	475	Curonian Lagoon	Hrodna, Druskininkai, Alytus, Kaunas, Sovetsk
2	Neris	510	235	Nemunas	Vilnius, Kernavė, Jonava, Kaunas
3	Venta River	346	161	Baltic Sea	Venta, Kuldīga, Ventspils
4	Šešupė	298	209	Nemunas	Marijampolė, Kudirkos Naumiestis, Krasnoznamensk
5	Šventoji	246	246	Neris	Anykščiai, Kavarskas, Ukmergė
6	Nevėžis	209	209	Nemunas	Panevėžys, Kėdainiai
7	Merkys	203	190	Nemunas	Baltoji Vokė, Merkinė
8	Minija	202	202	Nemunas Delta	Salantai, Gargždai, Priekulė
9	Nemunėlis	199	160	Lielupe
10	Dysna	173	58	Daugava
11	Jūra	172	172	Nemunas	Rietavas, Tauragė
12	Mūša	157	140	Lielupe
13	Lėvuo	145	145	Mūša	Bauska
14	Šušvė	135	135	Nevėžis
15	Dubysa	131	131	Nemunas	Šiauliai, Ariogala
16	Širvinta	129	129	Šventoji River	Širvintos
17	Švėtė	118	50	Lielupe	Žagarė
18	Šešuvis	115	115	Jūra
19	Kotra River	109	24	Nemunas
20	Mituva	102	102	Nemunas	Jurbarkas
21	Bartuva	101	55	Baltic Sea	Skuodas

The Virvyčia (99.7 km) is just shy of the 100 km limit. The length of the Žeimena is an object of discussion; it could be up to 114 km.

Note: length in Lithuania also includes the length of rivers when they serve as borders with neighboring countries.

Footnotes

1. The Republic of Lithuania, Fishery Country Profile, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, May 2005. Accessed June 9, 2006.
2. Stasys Vaitiekūnas, Elena Valančienė, Lietuvos geografija (Geography of Lithuania), Alma littera, 2004, page 65. ISBN 9955-08-534-7

References

• List of lakes, dams, and rivers of national importance
• Lithuania Central Internet Gates - Waters