|
The Dneiper.
Location: 50N 35E (Russia); length: 2300 kilometres (1400 miles); drainage basin: 500,000 square kilometres (195,000 square miles). The Dnieper, or Dnepr, is the third longest river in Europe (after the Volga and the Danube). It flows southward from its swampy headwaters in the Central Russian Uplands west of Moscow, through Russia, Belarus and the Ukraine to the Black Sea. Important cities on the Dnieper include Smolensk and Kiev. The main tributary is the Pripet. It is a navigable river and an important waterway, carrying mostly bulk goods such as timber and building materials. It is unfrozen from March to December. It is also used for generating hydroelectric power and for water storage A series of dams have been built, each containing major hydroelectric power plants and turning much of the lower Dnieper into a series of long lakes. The largest plant is the 686,000 kilowatts Kremenchug plant. |
