River
Põltsamaa River
136 km from source to mouth · Estonia.
EstoniaFlows into Pedja River3rd longest in Estonia
In numbers
Length
136km
Average flow
16m³/s
Basin
1,297km²
Drop
54m
from 92 m to 38 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
136 km of river and 3 stops on the way: 0 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 92 m
- 24 kmSinijärv0.4 km²
- 24 kmPreedi Rivertributary
- 28 kmLake Endla3.3 km²
- 78 kmPedja Riverat 38 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Estonia
At the mouth it carries 16 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 158 seconds. It drops from 92 m to 38 m, 0.4 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 1,297 km², about the size of MQ. 24,000 people live in it. Highest water: April; lowest: from December to March. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.
Where to start
- PuhjaLargest city on its banks · 1,072 people
- Tartu Airport (TAY)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 22 km from the cityCar hire at TAY airport (Tartu)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From June to AugustThe best months to visit
Põltsamaa River, month by month
Highest water: April
Lowest water: from December to March. Freezing months (average below −4 °C): from January to February. Best months to visit: from June to August.
From about 7.0 m³/s in the lowest month to 58 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.
Plan the trip
Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car
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The basin
Põltsamaa River: the basin in numbers
1,878 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 24,000people live in the basin
- 13/km²people per km²
- 95maverage altitude of the basin
- 626mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 4.8°Caverage air temperature
- 7%protected areas
- 0.2%covered by lakes
What covers the basin
- 37% Forest
- 27% Cropland
- 4% Pasture
RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.
Along the river
Põltsamaa River: what you find on the way
- 1River beachesPuurmani beach
From OpenStreetMap, within 1.4 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Põltsamaa River in our other atlases
What our sister atlases know about the waterfalls on this river, the lakes it flows through, the beaches at its mouth, the mountains where it rises and the islands off its mouth.
2lakes on its wayLakeyas
1mountain at the sourcePeakyas
Lakes and reservoirs (2)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Sinijärvkm 240.4km²
- Lake Endlakm 283.3km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
Mountains at the source (1)
Within 15 km of the source, by Peakyas
- Ebavere Hill5.9 km away146m
From space
The source and the mouth, seen from orbit
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.
Photos
Põltsamaa River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
Pedja RiverEstonia125 km11 m³/sTributaries (5)
Also: Preedi River, Nõmme River, Oostriku River, Ilmandu River, Päinurme River
Nearby
Rivers nearby
Estonia100 km70 m³/s53 km awayAhja RiverEstonia104 km72 m³/s49 km awayVõhandu RiverEstonia165 km11 m³/s80 km awayNavesti RiverEstonia102 km280 m³/s86 km awayPärnu RiverEstonia145 km48 m³/s109 km awayVelikaya
Russia430 km130 m³/s121 km awayNarvaEstonia74 km400 m³/s147 km awayPiusa RiverEstonia109 km5.1 m³/s104 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q2997388) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth given by Wikidata |
| Flow | WaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate along the river | WorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Towns, bridges, dams | Wikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Along the river | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Our other atlases | Lakeyas, Peakyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST |
Every source and licence is on the data sources page.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers or canyons?
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