Pripiat

(also Pripet’, Pripets, or Strumen’), a river in the Byelorussian and Ukrainian SSR’s. A right tributary of the Dneiper, emptying into the Kiev Reservoir, the Pripiat’ is the Dneiper’s largest tributary in amount of water and size of basin area. It is 775 km long and drains an area of 114,300 sq km.

The Pripiat’ rises northwest of Kovel’ and flows through the Poles’e in a weakly defined valley. In the upper course, in the Pinsk marsh area, it flows between low marsh-ridden banks, dividing into a number of branches, and the river channel is partially canalized. In the middle course the banks are sandy and the channel varies, and in the lower course the number of shoals in the channel increases. The main tributaries are, from the right, the Stokhod, Styr’, Goryn’, Ubort’, and Uzh, and from the left, the Iasel’da, Lan’, Sluch’, and Ptich.

The Pripiat’ is fed primarily by snow. High water begins in the first ten days of March, reaching its maximum in mid-April. The level of water then drops for three to 31/2 months. It rises to 2 m in the upper course, 3.5 m in the middle course, and 5–7 m in the lower course. High water is accompanied by extensive flooding. Low water in summer and fall is interrupted by upsurges of level from rains. The mean flow rate at Mozyr’ is 370 cu m per sec, while at the mouth it is 460 cu m per sec. The maximum flow rate is approximately 6,000 cu m per sec. The yearly discharge is 14.5 cu km. The Pripiat’ freezes in mid-December, and the ice breaks up in late March.

The Pripiat’ is linked by the Dneiper-Bug Canal with the Bug River, and by the Dnieper-Neman (Oginskii) Canal through the Shchara River with the Neman River. Timber is rafted on the river, which is navigable from Bol’shie Dikovichi (approximately 500 km from the mouth). There is fishing on the Pripiat’, which contains ide, European bream, crucian carp, pike, Eurasian perch, roach, and ruff. Fish-farming is widely developed in the basin. The cities of Pinsk, Petrikov, Mozyr’, Narovlia, and Chernobyl’ are on the Pripiat’.