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Freshwater in Europe - Facts, Figures and Maps
- Contents, Credits
- Summary
- Freshwater Resources
- Freshwater Consumption
- Freshwater Quality
- Freshwater Ecosystems
- Major European Watersheds
- Water Policy and Institutions
- Glossary
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Fresshwater in Europe in PDF

Danube - Dniepr - Don - Douro - Ebro - Elbe - Garonne - Guadalquivir - Guadiana - Loire - Oder - Po - Rhine - Rhone - Seine - Tagus - Vistula - Volga

DON

Tatar: Duna, Ancient: Tanais.

Length (km): 1 970
Drainage Area (km2): 422 000
Discharge (m3/s): 870
Countries: 2
Population: 22 000 000
Sea at Mouth: Azov
Ramsar Sites: 1

The Don River is the fourth-longest river in Europe. Its basin covers an area of 425 600 km2 (87% in Russia and 13% in Ukraine). The Don’s largest tributary is the Donets. Other important tributaries are the Voronezh, Khoper, and Medveditsa, and it is linked to the Volga by the Volga-Don Canal.

The source of the river is in Russia, southeast of Moscow near Tula. It then flows for a distance of about 1 950 km, through Voronej, crossing Rostov and entering the Gulf of Taganrog in the Sea of Azov. The Don River is linked to the Volga River by a canal (102 km) near Volgograd.

The Don is an important artery for grain, coal and lumber shipments. Rostov-na-Donu is the chief city and port on the Don. Known to the ancients as the Tanaïs, the Don has been a trading route since Scythian times.

The lower section of the Don is subject to annual floods. The most important took place in the XIX century. Although most of the River is navigable, the water level is very low in August, and the River is usually closed by ice from November or December to March or April.

Fishing activity is very important, particularly in the delta, with salmon and herring taken in large numbers, and salt fish and caviar widely traded.

The Don’s tributary, Severskiy Donetz, is one of the most polluted rivers in Europe.

Azov Sea

The quality of the Azov Sea water system is very much dependent upon the quantity and quality of the freshwater runoff from its drainage basin. The main influencing river is the Don, with an average natural flow of 28 km3 (65% of total flow) per year. The Azov Sea is a shallow (a maximum depth of 9 m) inland sea on the northern Black Sea. From the hydrological point of view, the Azov Sea is a bay (lagoon) of the Black Sea, and therefore it could be considered as a part of the Black Sea.

During the Soviet era, the Azov Sea was polluted from multiple sources. Heavy volumes of waste-water from industry, households and agriculture were regularly discharged into the Sea and the rivers of its basin. Wastewaters contained heavy metals, chlororganic chemicals, phosphates and pesticides. In the late 1980s, the sea encountered the problem of intrusion of alien species: the jellyfish Mnemiopsis, which inhabits Atlantic Ocean coastal waters in the USA. The jellyfish eats almost entire zooplankton, causing changes in biota. Building of large-scale hydroprojects on the Don also resulted in the loss of natural breeding grounds for many valuable fish.

Overall, a 10-fold decline in fish productivity has been reported for major fish breeding grounds. Annual commercial catch in the Azov Sea, which in the past was one of the most productive Seas, amounts to about 5 000 tons annually, while the figure was 120-160 000 tons annually in 1935-36. Seal catch has been almost near to zero since 1992.

GIWA - Black Sea: www.giwa.net/sr22/