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Poland Drainage
Nearly all of Poland is drained northward into the
Baltic Sea
by the Vistula, the Oder, and the tributaries of these two
major
rivers. About half the country is drained by the Vistula,
which
originates in the Tatra Mountains in far south-central
Poland.
The Vistula Basin includes most of the eastern half of the
country and is drained by a system of rivers that mainly
join the
Vistula from the east. One of the tributaries, the Bug,
defines
280 kilometers of Poland's eastern border with Ukraine and
Belarus. The Oder and its major tributary, the Warta, form
a
basin that drains the western third of Poland into the
bays north
of Szczecin. The drainage effect on a large part of Polish
terrain is weak, however, especially in the lake region
and the
inland areas to its south. The predominance of swampland,
level
terrain, and small, shallow lakes hinders large-scale
movement of
water. The rivers have two high-water periods per year.
The first
is caused by melting snow and ice dams in spring adding to
the
volume of lowland rivers; the second is caused by heavy
rains in
July.
Data as of October 1992
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