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River

West Rapti River

600 km from source to mouth · India and Nepal.

IndiaNepalIndia and NepalFlows into Ghaghara River

Follow the riverMonth by month

SourceMouth
The river and every tributary in its basin, drawn from RiverATLAS (CC BY 4.0).

In numbers

Length

600km

Average flow

580m³/s

Basin

30,000km²

Drop

351m

from 414 m to 63 m

Countries

2

The journey

From source to mouth

600 km of river and 10 stops on the way: 2 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.

414 m63 m
Sourceat 414 m0 km
Ikauna14,217 people245 km
Bhagnaia Tāl0.3 km²378 km
Bagāha Tāl0.3 km²385 km
Komar Tāl0.4 km²454 km
Likhia Tāl0.3 km²462 km
Ghaghara Riverat 63 m600 km
0200400600 km
  1. 0 kmSourceat 414 m
  2. 10 kmJhimruk Kholatributary
  3. 245 kmIkauna14,217 people
  4. 378 kmBhagnaia Tāl0.3 km²
  5. 385 kmBānsi39,926 people
  6. 385 kmBagāha Tāl0.3 km²
  7. 420 kmBarui Tāl1.2 km²
  8. 454 kmKomar Tāl0.4 km²
  9. 457 kmDohar Tāl (lanaw nga anhianhi sa Indya, lat 26,87, long 83,24)0.5 km²
  10. 462 kmLikhia Tāl0.3 km²
  11. 508 kmRohni Rivertributary
  12. 600 kmGhaghara Riverat 63 m

Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.

River in Nepal and India

At the mouth it carries 579 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 4.3 seconds. It drops from 414 m to 63 m, 0.6 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 30,000 km², about the size of AM. 15.8 million people live in it. Highest water: from August to September; lowest: from January to February and from April to May. No large dam holds it back: it is one of the world's free-flowing rivers.

Read more on Wikipedia

Where to start

West Rapti River, month by month

Highest water: from August to September

Lowest water: from January to February and from April to May. Best months to visit: from November to March.

63
15°24 mmJan
64
18°11 mmFeb
65
23°15 mmMar
48
29°9 mmApr
55
31°27 mmMay
390
31°189 mmJun
1,300
29°393 mmJul
2,000
29°353 mmAug
1,900
28°212 mmSep
1,100
26°70 mmOct
420
21°2 mmNov
100
16°6 mmDec
Water (estimated flow)Air (average) Rain (mm)Best months

From about 48 m³/s in the lowest month to 2,000 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

West Rapti River: the basin in numbers

25,314 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.

Free-flowingDams upstream can hold only 0.0% of a year's flow: the river still keeps its natural rhythm.
  • 15.8millionpeople live in the basin
  • 627/km²people per km²
  • 390maverage altitude of the basin
  • 1,407mmof rain a year (basin average)
  • 23.2°Caverage air temperature
  • 5%protected areas
  • 0.2%covered by lakes

What covers the basin

  • 27% Forest
  • 56% Cropland
  • 5% Pasture
  • 11% Towns and cities

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

West Rapti River: what you find on the way

  • 9DamsSikta Dam and 8 more
  • 1Weirs

From OpenStreetMap, within 2.0 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.

Cross-checked with our atlases

West Rapti 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.

  • 6lakes on its wayLakeyas

Lakes and reservoirs (6)

Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas

  1. Bhagnaia Tālkm 3910.3km²
  2. Bagāha Tālkm 3980.3km²
  3. Barui Tālkm 4341.2km²
  4. Komar Tālkm 4690.4km²
  5. Dohar Tāl (lanaw nga anhianhi sa Indya, lat 26,87, long 83,24)km 4720.5km²
  6. Likhia Tālkm 4780.3km²

Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗

From space

The source and the mouth, seen from orbit

West Rapti River: satellite view of the source
The source14 km across
West Rapti River: satellite view of the mouth
The mouth22 km across

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

West Rapti River in pictures

Rapti Bridge, Nepal second longest bridge
User:minprasadacharya · CC BY-SA 4.0
Pai in West Rapti River near Gobardiha-2, banghushree
Sharadpuri87 · CC BY-SA 4.0

Tributaries

Where it flows, and what flows into it

It flows into

Ghaghara RiverIndiaIndia1,080 km3,300 m³/s

Tributaries (2)

Also: Rohni River, Jhimruk Khola

In the same basin

GangesIndiaIndia2,525 km12,000 m³/sBrahmaputra RiverIndiaIndia2,900 km19,500 m³/sYamunaIndiaIndia1,376 km3,500 m³/sPadma RiverBangladeshBangladesh120 km32,000 m³/sGandaki RiverIndiaIndia630 km1,800 m³/sChambal RiverIndiaIndia960 km600 m³/sJamuna RiverBangladeshBangladesh245 km20,100 m³/sTeesta RiverBangladeshBangladesh470 km1,300 m³/sGomti RiverIndiaIndia900 km230 m³/sKosi RiverIndiaIndia729 km2,300 m³/s

Nearby

Rivers nearby

Gomti RiverIndiaIndia900 km230 m³/s108 km awaySon RiverIndiaIndia780 km1,200 m³/s138 km awayGandaki RiverIndiaIndia630 km1,800 m³/s167 km awayYamunaIndiaIndia1,376 km3,500 m³/s203 km awayTrishuli RiverNepalNepal163 km1,000 m³/s178 km awayMarshyangdiNepalNepal150 km220 m³/s195 km awaySharda RiverIndiaIndia350 km2,300 m³/s255 km awayDudh KoshiNepalNepal138 km180 m³/s290 km away

Where these numbers come from

Name, length, placesWikidata (Q2869013) · CC0
Course, profile, basinRiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed along the river network from the point given by Wikidata
FlowWaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Climate along the riverWorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0
Towns, bridges, damsWikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0
Along the river© OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL
ImagesEOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons
Our other atlasesLakeyas — 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?

Same idea, other landscapes: field atlases built on open data, month by month, in seven languages.

beachesCoastyaFind your beach: sea temperature, sun and swimming month by month.Visit
lakesLakeyasEvery lake on Earth: water temperature, ice, depth and the shore.Coming soonVisit
mountainsPeakyasEvery summit in 3D: summit weather, the 0 °C line, huts and trails.Visit
waterfallsCascadyasEvery waterfall: height, flow month by month and when it roars.Coming soonVisit
islandsIslandyasEvery island from the sea up: size, sea temperature, ferries and 3D.Coming soonVisit
riversRiveryasEvery river from source to sea: the journey, the flow and the basin in numbers.You are here
canyonsCanyonyasEvery canyon cut to scale: depth to the floor, rim and floor temperatures, trails and viewpoints.Coming soonVisit