Dnipro-Buh Canal

Dnipro-Buh Canal [Дніпровсько-Бузький канал; Dniprovsko-Buzkyi kanal; formerly Royal Canal]. A canal in Polisia that connects the Dnipro River and the Vistula River systems by way of the Pyna River, a tributary of the Prypiat River, and the Mukhavets River, a tributary of the Buh River. The Dnipro-Buh Canal lies on Ukrainian ethnic territory within Belarus. It was built in 1775–6 and was widened in 1846–8. Water was drawn from the Bile Lake and Orikhove Lake. The canal was navigable only in the spring and fall, when the water level reached 1.5 m. The canal was rebuilt in 1940–1 and again in 1945–6, at which point it was deepened and the number of locks was reduced from 22 to 10. Lumber, grain, anthracite, petroleum products, iron ore from the Kryvyi Rih Iron-ore Basin, and building materials are shipped through the canal.

  [This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 1 (1984).]