Vel (Vaga)

The Vel (Вель) is a river in Konoshsky and Velsky Districts of Arkhangelsk Oblast in Russia. It is a left tributary of the Vaga. It is 223 km long, and the area of its basin 5390 km2. Its average discharge (measured at the village of Balamutovskaya, about a dozen kilometers upstream from the mouth of the Vel) is 47.7 m3/s. Its main tributaries are the Podyuga and the Shonosha (both left).

The Vel has its sources in the bogs south of the urban-type settlement of Konosha. It flows north-east, then turns south-east, and around the village of Bolshaya Gora it accepts two right tributaries, the Votchitsa and the Tavrenga, and turns north-east. It enters Velsky District, and behind the settlement of Solginsky sharply turns north-west, until the confluence with the Podyuga. From this point, the Vel flows north, accepts the Shonosha in the selo of Ust-Shonosha, and turns east. In the selo of Shunems it turns south-east. The town of Velsk is situated at confluence of the Vel with the Vaga.

The Vel was used for timber rafting till the 1990s.