Don River (Russia) - Dams and Canals

Dams and Canals

At its easternmost point, the Don comes near the Volga, and the Volga-Don Canal (length ca. 105 kilometres (65 mi)), connecting both rivers, is a major waterway. The water level of the Don in this area is raised by the Tsimlyansk Dam, forming the Tsimlyansk Reservoir.

For the next 130 km below the Tsimlyansk Dam, the sufficient water depth in the Don River is maintained by the sequence of three dam-and-ship-lock complexes: the Nikolayevsky Ship Lock (Николаевский гидроузел), Konstantinovsk Ship Lock (Константиновский гидроузел), and the best known of the three, the Kochetovsky Ship Lock (Кочетовский гидроузел). The Kochetovsky Lock, built in 1914-1919 and doubled in 2004-2008, is located 7.5 km below the fall of the Seversky Donets into the Don, and 131 km upstream of Rostov-na-Donu, the Kochetovsky Ship Lock (Кочетовский гидроузел) (47°34′07″N 40°51′10″E / 47.56861°N 40.85278°E / 47.56861; 40.85278) is located. This facility, with its dam, maintains sufficient water level both in its section of the Don and in the lowermost stretch of the Seversky Donets. This is the last lock on the Don; below Kochetovsky lock, the sufficient depth of the navigation waterway is maintained by dredging.