Belarus, located in Eastern Europe and bordering Russia, Poland, Latvia, Ukraine and Lithuania, has 20,800 rivers and approximately 11,000 lakes, most of which are located in the north and northwest of its territory. Undoubtedly, such well-known rivers as the Dnieper, Zapadnaya Dvina, Sozh, Pripyat, Neman and other large water bodies play the main role for the country, but numerous smaller ones also play an important role.
The Shchara River also belongs to these. It will be discussed in the article.
General information about the water resources of the republic
The total length of all rivers is more than 90.5 thousand kilometers, and 93% are small (length up to 10 km). The main source of water is precipitation. In the spring, during the melting of snow, floods begin in the reservoirs, which sometimes lead to flooding of coastal settlements.
The largest rivers of Belarus in length, having a length of more than 300 km, -Dnieper, Berezina, Pripyat, Sozh, Neman, Ptich, Western Dvina, Shchara and others.
It should be noted that the potential resources of the Belarusian rivers are not very large for the construction of hydroelectric power plants and they are estimated in total at about 900 MW. Many of them are heavily polluted as a result of economic activities.
Shara River
Its name, which is the left tributary of the Neman and the largest in the Baranovichi district of the Brest region, comes from the B altic saras, which translates as "narrow". According to another version, the name comes from the geographical ancient term "source".
The area of the pool is more than 9 thousand square meters. km. with a length of just over 300 km (on the territory of Belarus). It originates on the southern slope of the Belarusian Ridge, then flows among the swamps of Polesie, and then in the lower reaches it extends along the Neman lowland. The food of the river is mixed, freezing occurs in the period from December to March. It is connected to the Oginsky Canal, which is inactive today, and to the Yaselda River, which belongs to the Dnieper basin. For 220 kilometers it is sluiced. One of the large settlements located near the river is the city of Slonim.
Source of Shhara
The beginning of the Shchara River is Lake Koldychevskoe, but being near a reservoir, it is easy to find several small streams that flow into it.
There is information (works by Alexander Shotsky - local historian from Baranovichi) that the source is located in a swampy area covered with willow and alder. This place is located tonorth-west of the village of Koldychevo, near the P5 highway (Baranovichi-Novogrudok). However, today this lowland does not have any flow (the pipe passing under the road is completely dry). In some areas, at the site of the former river channel (from the road to the east), hydrophilic vegetation testifies to the outflow of groundwater. But the river currently starts about 200 meters from the village (to the north).
In the village itself, despite several small dams created by local villagers to use water for household purposes, the river is gaining strength. After passing through a cascade of several ponds on the territory of the former estate of the Shalevichs, the river waters flow into the same Koldychevskoe lake. The lake does not give strength to the river due to the fact that peat is being mined near it, which requires lowering the water level in the former swamp.
Tributes and mouth
The main right tributaries of the Shchara River are the river. Myshanka (109 km), Grivda (85 km), Issa (62 km), Podyavorka (35 km), Lokhozva (29 km), Lipnyanka (23 km). Left tributaries - Witch (35 km), Lukonitsa (32 km), Sipa (26 km).
The Shchara flows into the Neman as a left tributary, 1.5 kilometers northeast of the village of Novoselki.
In conclusion
After Lake Shchara, in essence, it is a spillway of the drainage network. It acquires its natural splendor only after the village of Torchitsy.
The waters of the relatively clean river are home to fish such as bream, perch, pike, tench, crucian carp, ide, roach, burbot, silver bream and crucian carp.
