Water resources
There are 20.8 thousand rivers and streams in Belarus with the total length of 91 thousand kilometres, and about 11 thousand lakes, including 470 lakes with the area exceeding 0.5 km2 each. Naroch is the largest lake in Belarus (79.2 km2, the deepest point about 25 m). More than half of the water resources are belong to Black Sea basin, the rest belongs to the Baltic Sea basin. The rivers Pripyat, Dnieper, Nieman, Berezina and Zapadnaya Dvina, as well as the Dnieper-Bug canal are important for river navigation.
More than 145 artificial lakes have been created in Belarus. The most important is the Viliya Reservoir (75 km2) that gives birth to the Viliya-Minsk system of canals along which water from the Viliya river is directed to Minsk, the Republic's capital.
The renewable resources of surface and underground fresh water in the country are sufficient for meeting the present and future needs: the river water resources constitute 57.9 km3 per year. The total volume of water accumulated in lakes is estimated at 6–7 km3, the volume of artificial reservoirs is 3.1 km3. The average water intake for the household and industrial purposes does not exceed 5–7% of annually renewable water reserves.
Natural water of Belarus is used for the following purposes: drinking water supply, production needs, hydroelectric engineering, navigation, fish rearing, irrigation and finally, recreation. By findings of the research conducted, the potentialities for development of mass tourism (including international tourism), sport and fishing are rather high. The country’s inland reservoirs can become a valuable recreation environment.
Largest rivers of Belarus:
Dnieper: total length of 2145 km, Belarusian part – 690 km.
Zapadnaya Dvina: total length of 1020 km, Belarusian part – 328 km.
Neman: total length of 937 km, Belarusian part - 459 km
Zapadnyy Bug: total length of 831 km, Belarusian part - 169 km.
Pripyat: total length of 761 km, Belarusian part – 495 km
Largest lakes of Belarus:
Naroch: water surface area – 79.6 sq. km, max. depth – 24.8 m
Osveiskoe: water surface area – 52.8 sq. km, max. depth – 7.5 m
Chervonoe: water surface area – 40.3 sq. km, max. depth – 2.9 m
Lukomskoe: water surface area – 37.7 sq. km, max. depth – 11.5 m
Dryviaty: water surface area – 36.1 sq. km, max. depth – 12 m
