The Irtysh River

The Irtysh River is a river in Siberia and Kazakhstan, the main tributary Obi. The length of the Irtysh is 4248 km, which exceeds the length of the Ob. The Irtysh together with the Ob are the longest river in Russia, the second longest in Asia and the seventh in the world (5410 km).

Irtysh is the longest river in the world (in second place - Missouri). It flows through China (525 km), Kazakhstan (1700 km) and Russia (2010 km). Area of ​​the basin - 1643 thousand km². The sources of the Irtysh are on the border of Mongolia and China, on the eastern slopes of the Mongolian Altai Range. From China, under the name of the Black Irtysh, it enters Kazakhstan, passes through the Zaisan hollow, flows into the flowing lake Zaisan. At the mouth of the Black Irtysh there is a large delta. Many rivers flow from the Rudny Altai into the Zaisan, the Tarbagatay and Saur Ranges. The Irtysh, which is repeatedly intensified by these waters, flows from Lake Zaisan to the north-west through Bukhtarma HPP and behind it the located Ust-Kamenogorsk HPP. Downstream there are Shulbinskaya HPP and the city of Semipalatinsk. A little higher than Pavlodar Irtysh water is taken by the Irtysh-Karaganda canal, which flows westward. In the Khanty-Mansiysk area, the Irtysh flows into the Ob.

The Irtysh food is mixed: in the upper reaches snow, glacial and less rain; In the lower reaches, snow, rain and soil. The nature of the water regime is also significantly changing. In the upper reaches, the high water begins in April, the maximum in April and June, the decline lasts until October; The river runoff is regulated. In the lower reaches of the flood from the end of May to September, the maximum in June. 50% of annual runoff occurs in the spring, in the upper reaches the share of runoff in summer and autumn by 20%, in winter 10%, in Tobolsk, respectively, 27%, 19% and 7%. Average consumption in Ust-Kamenogorsk 628 m³/ S, Semipalatinsk near 960 m³/ S, Omsk 917 m³/ S, Tobolsk 2150 m³/ S, at the mouth about 3000 m³/ S, the annual flow is about 95 km³. The swing of the level above Lake Zaisan 4,4 m, in Omsk 7 m, Ust-Ishim 12,7 m, to the mouth decreases. The total catchment area is 1 643 000 sq. M. Km. Slope of the order of 0,03 m per kilometer. Ledostav on the Irtysh is preceded by an ice drift lasting about 20 days in the upper reaches and 6-10 days in the lower reaches. It freezes in the upper reaches at the end of November, in the lower reaches in early November, is opened in April.

Waters of the Irtysh are used to feed the Irtysh-Karaganda canal (taking water from the Irtysh to the canal on average 75 m³/ S), for water supply and irrigation. Regular navigation at 3 784 km from the downstream of the Ust-Kamenogorsk HPP to the mouth. Navigation from April to November. At present OJSC "Irtysh Shipping Company" carries out multi-day passenger routes on the Omsk-Salekhard lines (through Tobolsk and Khanty-Mansiysk). For the period of three-month navigation along this route there are motor ships Chernyshevsky and Rodina. To date, this is one of the few remaining river passenger routes in Russia. Below Lake Zaysan on the Irtysh, the Irtysh cascade of the hydroelectric power station including Bukhtarma, Ust-Kamenogorsk and Shulbinskaya HPPs was built. In 2010, a project for the construction of a low-pressure dam north of Omsk-Krasnogorsky hydro-hydraulic complex was developed. The project is carried out under the target program of the Omsk region "Construction of the Krasnogorsk water-lifting hydroelectric complex on the Irtysh River".