The Prorva Channel, Prorva Canal, or Prorva branch is a

channel Channel, channels, channeling, etc., may refer to: Geography * Channel (geography), a landform consisting of the outline (banks) of the path of a narrow body of water. Australia * Channel Country, region of outback Australia in Queensland and pa ...

in the

Danube delta The Danube Delta (, ; , ) is the second largest river delta in Europe, after the Volga Delta, and is the best preserved on the continent. Occurring where the Danube, Danube River empties into the Black Sea, most of the Danube Delta lies in Romania ...

, in

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. It is partly a natural branch of the Danube delta, and partly a

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface ...

constructed in 1957 by the Soviet Union.Decision to build Danube–Black Sea canal turns a blind eye to other alternatives
ICPS newsletter #205, 27 October 2003 According to an official report of the Ukrainian Ministry of Ecology, "Since 1958 the navigable waterway through the Prorva Branch had become the main channel for cargo transportation in the Ukrainian part of the Danube Delta", while the

Bystroye Channel The Deepwater Navigation Course "Danube – Black Sea" is a deep-water canal in the Danube Delta that runs through the Danube Delta distributaries Chilia, Old Istambul and "Bystroe" or "Bystre". Through most of its length it coinci ...

was reserved for military use until 1992 (and the Bystroye saw only occasional merchant traffic thereafter). After the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...

, the Prorva (alongside other Ukrainian waterways) became neglected, and transportation on it stopped around 1994-1997 due to

silting Siltation is water pollution caused by particulate Terrestrial ecoregion, terrestrial Clastic rock, clastic material, with a particle size dominated by silt or clay. It refers both to the increased concentration of suspended sediments and to the i ...

, leaving Ukraine without its own deep-water canal between the Danube and the Black Sea. THE ASSESSMENT OF TRANSBOUNDARY IMPACT OF THE NAVIGATION ROUTE REOPENING IN THE UKRAINIAN PART OF THE DANUBE DELTA
/ref> According to Ukrainian NGO International Centre for Policy Studies,

dredging Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing d ...

of the Prorva amounted to removing over 200,000 cubic meters annually after its opening, but by the mid-1980s that volume had increased twenty-fold. Its reestablishment is among the suggestions to restore Ukrainian waterways, as an alternative to the controversial Bystroye Canal project."Ukraine Pushes Ship Canal Across Protected Danube Wetland"
/ref>

References

Canals in Ukraine Distributaries of the Danube Canals opened in 1957 {{Odesa-geo-stub