TheBug orWestern Bug[a] is a major river inCentral Europe that flows throughBelarus (border),Poland, andUkraine, with a total length of 774 kilometres (481 mi).[1] Atributary of theNarew, the Bug forms part of theborder between Belarus and Poland for 178 kilometres (111 mi) and part of theborder between Ukraine and Poland for 185 kilometres (115 mi).[2][3]
The Bug is connected with theDnieper by theDnieper–Bug Canal. Out of its 38,712 square kilometres (14,947 sq mi)drainage basin, half is in Poland,[1] just over a quarter in Belarus, and slightly under a quarter in Ukraine.[2]
According toZbigniew Gołąb, the Slavic hydronymBug as*bugъ/*buga derives from the Proto-Indo-European verbal root*bheug- (with cognates in oldProto-Germanic*bheugh- etc. with the meaning 'bend, turn, move away'), with the hypothetical original meaning 'pertaining to a (river) bend', and derivatives in Russianbúga 'low banks of a river overgrown with bushes', Polishbugaj 'bushes or woods in a river valley or on a steep river bank', and Latvianbauga 'marshy place by a river'.[4]
Traditionally (e.g., by the drafters of theCurzon Line), the Bug River has been considered the ethnographic border between the East and West as well as the border betweenOrthodox (Ukrainians, Belarusians) andCatholic (Poles) peoples, withPodlachia being a historical borderland where ethnic elements of those nations intermerged.[5][6][verification needed]
The Bug is a left tributary of theNarew. It flows from theLviv Oblast in the west of Ukraine northwards into theVolyn Oblast, before passing along the Ukraine-Polish andPolish-Belarusian border and into Poland, where it follows part of the border between theMasovian andPodlaskieVoivodeships. It joins the Narew atSerock, a few kilometers upstream of the artificialZegrze Lake, which was constructed in 1963 with a hydroelectric complex.[2]
This part of the Narew between the confluence and the Vistula is sometimes referred to asBugo-Narew but on December 27, 1962, the Prime Minister of Poland's act abolished the name "Bugo-Narew", soon after Zegrze Lake was completed.[7]
The total basin area of the Bug is 38,712 square kilometres (14,947 sq mi) of which half, 19,239 square kilometres (7,428 sq mi) or, 50%, is in Poland.[1] Somewhat more than a quarter, 11,400 square kilometres (4,400 sq mi) or 29%, is in Belarus, and a bit under a quarter, 8,700 square kilometres (3,400 sq mi) or 22% lies in Ukraine.[2]
The basin experiences annual high-water levels during spring flooding due to thawing snow, after which a low flow period starts and lasts until October or mid-November. Occasional summer floods often occur in the headlands, where mountains influence favorableflash-flood conditions. In Autumn the water level increases are inconsiderable; in some years they do not happen at all. During the winter the river can have temporary ice-outs that sometimes provoke ice jams, causing an increase of the level up to 2 metres (6.6 ft). The resultant water levels are changeable due to the instability of ice cover.[2]
Significant floods during the last 60 years in Belarus were registered in 1958, 1962, 1967, 1971 and 1974.[2] The largest spring flood was observed in 1979, when the maximum water discharge was 19.1 cubic metres per second on 24 March 1979, at the village ofChersk; 166 cubic metres per second near the village ofTyukhinichi (Lyasnaya river) on 31 March 1979; and 269 cubic metres per second nearBrest on 1 April 1979. A similar spring flood occurred in 1999 when the spring run-off in March–May exceeded the average annual value by almost half again (48%).
The last time the Bug flooded in Poland and Ukraine was in 2010 and the last time it flooded in Belarus was in 1999.[2]
^"Main Geographic Characteristics of the Republic of Belarus".Land of Ancestors. The Scientific and Production State Republican Unitary Enterprise “National Cadastre Agency” of the State Property Committee of the Republic of Belarus. 2011. Archived fromthe original on 21 September 2013. Retrieved20 September 2013.
