Belarus
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Highlights
International Water Forum 2006 in Minsk
Experience and Lessons
Overview of Water Resources
Country Water Profile
Water Resources
Belarus has over 20,000 rivers and creeks totaling 91,000 kilometres in length and about 11,000 lakes, 470 of them exceed an area of over 0.5 square kilometres each. Water bodies cover 2 percent of the country's area. Over half of Belarusian water resources (56 percent) account for the Black Sea basin, the remaining fraction for the Baltic Sea basin. The rivers of Prypyat, Dnieper (Dnipro), Neman, Berezina and Western Dvina and also the Dnieper-Bug Canal are most critical for navigation. There have been 145 water storage reservoirs built in Belarus. The total length of the rivers within the catchment areas of the Black and Baltic seas constitutes 90,6 thou km. If we imagine all the rivers as one blue band it could engird our planet twice.
The total water resources of the country amount to 56,2 km3 a year. Our largest lakes are: Naroch (80 km2) and Osveyskoye (52,8 km2). All major rivers are transboundary. The Dnieper and West Dvina originate in Russia, flow through Belarus and roll their waters to the Ukraine and Latvia correspondingly. After having come from the Ukraine the Pripyat passes through Belarus and returns to the Ukraine. The West Bug flowing-in from the Ukraine serves a State border line between Belarus and Poland, while the Viliya and the Neman flow to Lithuania from Belarus.
Man-made water systems are: Berezinskaya system connects the West Dvina River with the Dnieper, two connecting channels: the Dnieper-Bug one and Oginsky, and Vileisko-Minskaya water system that satisfies the needs in water of the capital city of the Republic.
Water regime of the rivers in Belarus is determined by spring tide and freezing periods. Spring tide is the most important phase. The height of the tide over the normal (low-water) water stage on the major rivers amounts to 8,6 - 12,8 m, and on medium-size and small ones - about two times lower. The high water period on the rivers lasts 30 - 120 days. Spring tide on the rivers alternates with summer and autumn low water when water levels reach the lowest points. Rivers freeze for 80 - 140 days starting from the second decade of November. In severe winters some small rivers can freeze through for up to 4,5 months, while in mild winters rivers do not freeze up.
Water in the economy of Belarus
Although Belarus has enough water to meet its current and future needs, its water resources are susceptible to pollution from economic activities. These include extensive agriculture, environmentally unjustified techniques for waterlogged-area drainage and utilization of reclaimed entities, misuse of pesticides and fertilizers, waste-borne pollution. All of these practices drastically affect natural waters and aquatic ecosystems. The water situation is aggravated by mismanagement and a lack of public participation in environmental issues as well as a lack of effective legal and economic tools to encourage environmental activities.
Water Management
The history of drainage in Belarus dates back to the second half of the eighteenth century in the then Polish state. On huge private estates, marshes were drained to turn them into meadows, mainly by open canals. In the final quarter of the nineteenth century, large-scale drainage works were carried out in the Polesye region, where about 4,700 kilometres of canals were built with an average depth of 1.1 metre. These works were also intended to facilitate wood exploitation and the floating of timber down to Ukraine. By the mid-1990's over 3 million hectares had been drained for agricultural purposes. Currently, the total length of the irrigation and drainage network exceeds 800 000 kilometres, which is almost nine times the total length of the natural rivers in the country. Unlike most countries with a strong agricultural base, irrigation is not prominent. All irrigation takes place on land that has been excessively drained. In fact, there is no real need for irrigation, except in areas where the groundwater has been lowered too much by excessive drainage.
Daily consumption of drinking water per capita in Belarus grew from 184 liters in 1990 to 219 in 2002, while in Minsk City the average consumption of water of drinking quality per person exceeds 350 liters a day. This is considerably higher than the amounts of water consumption in the majority of countries in Western Europe (120-150 liters a day). Despite Belarusians' broad access to water, the reliability and safety of town supply systems are not satisfactory due to capacity problems and insufficient measures to maintain water systems in working order.
According to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection, in 1999 about 30 percent of the samples taken in towns and about 50 percent of the samples taken in rural areas did not meet established sanitary standards. Each resident of Belarus consumes daily about 200 liters of water, while, in West European countries the per-capita consumption of water amounts to just 135 litres a day.
With regards to transboundary water management, since 1992, some agreements with Poland have been reached on water quality issues and navigation on the Western Bug River. However, Belarus has not succeeded in reaching an agreement with neighbouring countries on sharing water from international rivers.
Fact and Figures
- Total Available Renewable Water Resources [1] -- 52 km2/yr (16,163 L/day/cap)
- Renewed as:
- - Surface water produced internally -- 37.1 km3/yr (64%)
- - Groundwater recharge -- 18 km3/yr (31%)
- - Incoming waters -- 21 km3/year (36%)
Used by man -- 2.9 km3/yr (5%)
Rainfall -- 600 mm/year
- Water Usage [2] -- 2.9 km3/yr (100%)
- By Sector:
- - Agriculture -- 1.00 km3/yr (35%)
- - Industry -- 1.2 md3/yr (43%)
- - Domestic -- 0.64 km3/yr (22%)
- Population [3] without Safe Access to..
.. an improved water source (2004) [4] -- 0
- - Average in Urban Areas -- 0 %
- - Average in Rural Areas -- 0 %
.. improved sanitation (2004) -- 1,576,320 (16%)
- - Average in Urban Areas -- 7%
- - Average in Rural Areas -- 39%
Projects
UNDP Projects
National:
Completed
Regional:
UNDP-GEF Preparation of the Strategic Action Programme for the Dnipro River Basin and Development of SAP Implementation (UNDP/UNOPS 2000-2005)
UNDP-GEF Implementation of Priority Interventions of the Dnipro Basin Strategic Action Program: Chemical Industrial Pollution Reduction and The Development of Joint Institutional Arrangements (UNDP/UNOPS 2005-2007)
Others
Reports
HDR 2003, Human Capacity of Belarus: Economic Challenges and Social Responses
Belarus Environmental Performance Review
Belarus - Water Supply and Sanitation Data for 1990 and 2004
Resources and Links
Contacts
- CoP-Members
- Contacts
External Links
Country information on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus Basic facts about Belarus on the SIDA website
Article about the launch of the international decade "Water for Life" in Belarus Belarus National Human Development Reports
Belarus country page on the UNEP/GRID-Arendal portal
The WB: Belarus country page, environmental profile
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Categories: Mapped | Country | Belarus
