Numedalslågen is a river located in the counties of

Vestfold and Telemark Vestfold og Telemark (; ) is a county under disestablishment in Norway. The county is the southernmost one of Eastern Norway and consists of two distinct and separate traditional regions: the former counties of Telemark and (most of) Vestfold. T ...

and

Viken Viken may refer to: *Viken, Scandinavia, a historical region *Viken (county), a Norwegian county established in 2020 *Viken, Sweden, a bimunicipal locality in Skåne County, Sweden *Viken (lake), a lake in Sweden, part of the part of the Göta cana ...

in southeastern

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. It is one of the longest rivers in Norway.

Location

Numedalslågen stretches for over through the counties of

and

Viken_(county) Viken is a county under disestablishment in Eastern Norway that was established on 1 January 2020 by the merger of Akershus, Buskerud and Østfold with the addition of three other municipalities. Viken was controversial from the onset, with an ...

, beginning at the

Hardangervidda Hardangervidda ( en, Hardanger Plateau) is a mountain plateau (Norwegian: ''vidde'') in central southern Norway, covering parts of Vestland, Vestfold og Telemark, and Viken counties. It is the largest plateau of its kind in Europe, with a cold ye ...

plateau and meeting the ocean at

Larvik Larvik () is a List of cities in Norway, town and Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestfold in Vestfold og Telemark Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Larvik. The municipality ...

in Vestfold. Numedalslågen is one of Norway's longest rivers. The river runs through the municipalities Larvik,

Lardal Lardal () is a former municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality was the village of Svarstad. The parish of ''Laurdal'' was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt ...

Kongsberg Kongsberg () is a historical mining town and municipality in Buskerud, Viken county, Norway. The city is located on the river Numedalslågen at the entrance to the valley of Numedal. Kongsberg has been a centre of silver mining, arms production ...

Flesberg Flesberg is a municipality in the traditional and electoral district Buskerud in Viken county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Numedal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Lampeland. The economy of ...

Rollag Rollag is a Municipalities of Norway, municipality in the traditional and electoral district Buskerud in Viken (county), Viken Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Districts of Norway, traditional region of Numedal. The admini ...

and

Nore og Uvdal Nore og Uvdal is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Viken (county), Viken Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Districts of Norway, traditional region of Numedal. The administrative centre of the municipality is ...

. These municipalities cooperate in the administration and use of resources connected to the river in various projects under the Green Valley (''Grønn Dal'') umbrella. There are a number of

hydroelectric plants Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...

in the higher range of Numedalslågen. Most of the power potential of the main river is developed, except the stretch between

Hvittingfoss Hvittingfoss is a village in the municipality of Kongsberg in Buskerud, Norway. Hvittingfoss has traditionally been associated with the manufacture of pulp, paper and paper products. History Prior to the municipal merger in 1964, Hvittingfoss wa ...

and Larvik and Godfarfossen in

Dagali Dagali is a small mountain village in Buskerud, Norway. Summary Dagali is located in Hol municipality. The village stretches from Pålsbufjorden on the east to the border of the Hardangervidda National Park in the west, a distance of approximate ...

. Nore I kraftverk, the first power plant built in the Nore municipality in Viken used Norefallene between Tunhovdfjorden and

Rødberg Rødberg is the administrative centre of Nore og Uvdal municipality in Buskerud, Norway. Rødberg is located in the Norwegian traditional district and valley of Numedal. Its population (2005) is 498, and it is located on the Rødberg dam ( no, ...

. It was completed in 1928 and was designed by Norwegian architects Carl Buch and

Lorentz Harboe Ree Lorentz Harboe Ree (12 March 1888– 8 March 1962) was a Norwegian architect. Ree was born at Stange in Hedmark, Norway. He graduated from the Norwegian Institute of Technology in 1915. He first worked as an architectural assistant in Bergen (19 ...

. Nore II kraftverk uses the drop between Rødberg dam and Norefjord and was completed in 1947. Numedalslågen is known for being a good location for

salmon Salmon () is the common name for several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family (biology), family Salmonidae, which are native to tributary, tributaries of the ...

fishing, although a parasite known as ''

Gyrodactylus salaris ''Gyrodactylus salaris'', commonly known as salmon fluke, is a tiny monogenean ectoparasite which lives on the body surface of freshwater fish. This leech-like parasite has been implicated in the reduction of Atlantic salmon populations in the No ...

'' has recently been found in Numedalslågen that may pose a threat to its salmon stock. Among the other fish species of Numedalslågen are

trout Trout are species of freshwater fish belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of the subfamily Salmoninae of the family Salmonidae. The word ''trout'' is also used as part of the name of some non-salmoni ...

eel Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order Anguilliformes (), which consists of eight suborders, 19 families, 111 genera, and about 800 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the early larval stage to the eventual adult stage ...

, and

pike Pike, Pikes or The Pike may refer to: Fish * Blue pike or blue walleye, an extinct color morph of the yellow walleye ''Sander vitreus'' * Ctenoluciidae, the "pike characins", some species of which are commonly known as pikes * ''Esox'', genus of ...

Name

The first element is name of the

Numedal Numedal () is a valley and a traditional district in Eastern Norway located within the county of Buskerud. It traditionally includes the municipalities Flesberg, Nore og Uvdal and Rollag. Administratively, it now also includes Kongsberg. Geog ...

River. The second element is the finite form of ''låg'' ( Norse lǫgr'' m) "water; river", but the river was originally called ''Nauma'' and is the origin of the valley's name.

Gallery

File:Numedalslaagen Kongsberg.jpg, Numedalslågen through Kongsberg File:Numedalslaagen Nybrufoss.jpg, Nybrufoss on Numedalslågen File:Numedalslaagen Larvik.jpg, Numedalslågen through Larvik File:Kongsberg-waterfall-2006.jpg, Numedalslågen in Kongsberg File:Skjønne, Norway 2007-01-19.jpg, Numedalslågen at Skjønne File:Lågen ved Komnes.jpg, Numedalslågen at Komnes in Sandsvær

References

Other sources

*Nasjonalgalleriet and Riksantikvaren (1982) ''Norsk Kunstnerleksikon'' (Oslo: Universitetsforlaget) *Tråen, Even, Tor Bjørvik & Sølver Sjulstad (2001) ''Livet langs Numedalslågen'' (Oslo) {{DEFAULTSORT:Numedalslagen Rivers of Vestfold og Telemark Rivers of Viken Larvik Kongsberg Rivers of Norway

Location

Name

Gallery

See also

References

Other sources