What is "driva"

The Driva river runs through Sør-Trøndelag and Møre og Romsdal counties in Norway. The headwaters lie in the Dovrefjell mountains in the south, from where it flows northward, downward through the valley Drivdalen in the municipality of Oppdal. In Oppdal it turns westward down the Sunndalen valley to the Sunndalsfjord at Sunndalsøra in the municipality of Sunndal. Some of the other villages along the river include Grøa, Hoelsand, and Lønset. At Gjøra the river changes name to Sunndalselva. (Sunndal river)

Many of the tributaries on the west side of the Oppdal valley are dry; the waters in reservoirs formed from the many mountain lakes in that region flow in pipes through the mountain to Driva hydroelectric station at Fale in Sunndal. The largest lake in the reservoir system is Gjevillvatnet which is about long and about wide.

Before the last ice age, Driva drained northwards from Oppdal and joined the Orkla river. The uppermost part of the river in Sunndalen with the tributaries from Gjevilvatnet, Dindalen and Storlidalen then drained eastwards to Oppdal and joined the older Driva there. These three tributaries flows eastwards even today, until they meet the westward-flowing Driva.