Fourth Study Conference on BALTEX Scala Cinema Gudhjem

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Hydrological and Hydrochemical Surface Water Monitoring Network in the
Republic of Belarus
Ryhor Chekan 1 and Vladimir Korneev 2
1 Republican Hydrometeorogical Centre , 110 Skaryna Avenue, 220023, Minsk, Republic of Belarus, tel. +375-172-64-03-20,
fax +375-172-64-03-35, e-mail: chek@by.mecom.ru
2 Central Research Institute for Complex Use of Water Resources (CRICUWR), ½ Slavinskogo Str., 220086, Minsk, Republic
of Belarus, tel. +375-172-63-48-33, fax +375-172-63-48-33, e-mail: cricuwr@infonet.by, v_korneev@yahoo.com
1. Introduction
The rivers of the Republic of Belarus are related to two
seas basins - Baltic and Black. These rivers are divided
by a watershed of these seas. The river basins of Vistula
(the Western Bug), Neman, Western Dvina and Neva
(Lovat) belong to the Baltic Sea. Dnepr flows to the
Black Sea. The distribution of the territory of Belarus
with respect to river basin is presented in table 1.
Table 1.
Name of
river basin
The area of territory of Byelorussia
belonging to these river basins,
km 2
Limits of change of the surface of
flow, m (Baltic Sea Coordinate
System Units)
Western 33149 294,6 -
Dvina
96,4
Lovat 483 233,1 -
144,6
Neman 45530 350,1 -
79,7
Western 9944 254,8 -
Bug
119,0
Dnepr 67545 350,1 -
(without
Pripyat)
101,4
Pripyat 50899 334,0 -
102,8
Total 207600 350,1 -
79,7
Average height of a river basin
above a level of the Baltic sea, m
Density of a river network (in view
of the rivers not less than 5 km),
km/km 2
156 0,26
174 0,22
174 0,27
149 0,21
164 0,25
145 0,23
160 0,25
The Republic of Belarus is fairly well supplied with
water resources. The available natural water resources
are quite sufficient for meeting the current and future
needs for water. In Belarus, 2% of available surface
water and 7% of groundwater resources are used. Water
resources of the Belarus range up to 57,9 km 3 in an
average year, of which 34 km 3 are formed within the
country. Rivers of the Black Sea basin and rivers of the
Baltic Sea basin account for about 55% and 45% of
annual water discharge, respectively. A major portion of
river flow (about 59%) is formed within the country.
Water inflow from the territories of neighboring
countries (Russia and the Ukraine) reaches 41%. Part of
the river flow is accumulated in lakes and watercollecting
areas of the republic (6,7 km 3 and 3,1 km 3 ,
respectively) [4]. Belarus has more than 10000 lakes
with the total area of about 150000 ha, 130 000
reservoirs with the total area of 80000 ha and over
20000 rivers with the total length of 90600 km.
Common average long-term drain of the rivers basins of
Belarus is 57,9 km 3 (of which 34,0 km 3 are formed
within Belarus).
The department of Hydrometeorology is responsible
for the organization for the hydrological, hydrochemical
and hydrobiological monitoring. This department is
under the Ministry of Natural Resources and
Environmental Protection.
The observation of surface waters is carried out by
the monitoring network of hydrological, hydrochemical
and hydrobiological monitoring.
The important part of the monitoring is the release of
the cadastral documents containing analyzed and
processed results of hydrological observations. The State
Water Cadastre is published as Hydrological year-books
incl. «Resources of surface waters », «Hydrological
characteristics», «Long-term hydrological
characteristics», «Change of a hydrographic network»,
«Water resources, their use and quality».
2. Hydrological monitoring network
Observations over a hydrological regime on the
territory of Belarus are started at the end of the 19 th
century (1876 - 1881). From the beginning of
observations until now a total of 705 stations have been
operated. At present, there are 122 river monitoring
stations being operated by the Department of
Hydrometeorology of the Ministry of Natural Resources
and Environmental Protection. The distribution of
monitoring stations is presented in table 2.
Table 2
Amount of hydrological stations
River basin Summary which function
now
Western Dvina 103 17
Neman (without
Vilia)
89 12
Vilia 39 11
Western Bug 35 11
Dnepr (without
Pripyat)
245 36
Summary 705 122
Permanent hydrological observations are carried out
at 84 rivers and channels (122 posts), 14 lakes and water
reservoirs (14 posts).
107 out of 122 monitoring stations are water
discharge stations, at 77 hydrological posts observations