Somovit
- Lowest
- 216 cm
- Point
- Somovit
- Survey
- 2 October 2026
Officially published depth.
Navigation
Danube navigation: critical points
Shallow sections of the lower Danube, from upstream to downstream, with the officially published depths for the current gauge level and the date of the latest survey.
In Bulgaria: shallow water today at 20 shoals, below 250 cm.
23 points · updated 6 November 2026
Sectors, from Somovit to Chaika island
- shallow (below 250 cm)
- good
By sector
shallow
Palets island
- Lowest
- 236 cm
- Point
- Palets island
- Survey
- 6 October 2026
Officially published depth.
G. Byrzina island
- Lowest
- 176 cm
- Point
- G. Byrzina island
- Survey
- 30 September 2026
Officially published depth.
Belene island
- Lowest
- 206 cm
- Point
- Belene island
- Survey
- 30 September 2026
Officially published depth.
Svishtov
- Lowest
- 176 cm
- Point
- Svishtov
- Survey
- 30 October 2026
Officially published depth.
Vardim island
- Lowest
- 186 cm
- Point
- Vardim island
- Survey
- 6 October 2026
Officially published depth.
Vardim island
- Lowest
- 206 cm
- Point
- Vardim island
- Survey
- 1 October 2026
Officially published depth.
Sector km 539
- Lowest
- 216 cm
- Point
- Sector km 539
- Survey
- 31 October 2026
Officially published depth.
Sector km 536
- Lowest
- 226 cm
- Point
- Sector km 536
- Survey
- 31 October 2026
Officially published depth.
Sector km 530
- Lowest
- 226 cm
- Point
- Sector km 530
- Survey
- 11 September 2026
Officially published depth.
Batin island
- Lowest
- 217 cm
- Point
- Batin island
- Survey
- 6 October 2026
Officially published depth.
Batin island
- Lowest
- 227 cm
- Point
- Batin island
- Survey
- 6 October 2026
Officially published depth.
Ruse
- Lowest
- 257 cm
- Point
- Ruse
- Survey
- 8 October 2026
Officially published depth.
Dunav Most
- Lowest
- 227 cm
- Point
- Dunav Most
- Survey
- 4 June 2026
Officially published depth.
Gostin island
- Lowest
- 227 cm
- Point
- Gostin island
- Survey
- 25 September 2026
Officially published depth.
Mishka island
- Lowest
- 217 cm
- Point
- Mishka island
- Survey
- 23 September 2026
Officially published depth.
Braschlian island
- Lowest
- 207 cm
- Point
- Braschlian island
- Survey
- 20 October 2026
Officially published depth.
Kosui island 2
- Lowest
- 210 cm
- Point
- Kosui island 2
- Survey
- 20 October 2026
Officially published depth.
Albina island
- Lowest
- 160 cm
- Point
- Albina island
- Survey
- 24 September 2026
Officially published depth.
Popina
- Lowest
- 190 cm
- Point
- Popina
- Survey
- 24 September 2026
Officially published depth.
Vereshti island
- Lowest
- 260 cm
- Point
- Vereshti island
- Survey
- 2 September 2026
Officially published depth.
Vetren island
- Lowest
- 260 cm
- Point
- Vetren island
- Survey
- 24 September 2026
Officially published depth.
Chaika island
- Lowest
- 190 cm
- Point
- Chaika island
- Survey
- 23 September 2026
Officially published depth.
How to read the figures on the navigation page
The page shows, sector by sector, how deep the water is in the Danube fairway today. The fairway is the part of the river that vessels use. The figures come from the latest surveys and from the current gauge level; the notes below are for anyone who does not work in hydrology.
- LDC — Low reference level of the Danube Commission
- LDC is the low-water reference the Danube Commission sets for each gauge: the level the water reaches or exceeds on 94 of 100 ice-free days over a 30-year period. It is not today's level and not a limit: the river can fall below it. As the level approaches LDC, the fairway narrows and loaded barges have to carry less.
- HDC — High reference level of the Danube Commission
- HDC is the high-water reference of the Danube Commission, exceeded on only 1 of 100 ice-free days in the same 30-year period. It is not a flood or defence level: above it, navigation faces restrictions on speed, draught and sometimes on operating hours.
- ENR — Navigable regulation low water (Romanian reference)
- ENR is the Romanian counterpart of LDC on the lower Danube: the level reached or exceeded on 94 of 100 days, used as the reference for fairway depth. When you hear “depth at ENR”, the figure describes the fairway at that reference level, not at today’s gauge.
What a critical point is
A critical point is a place in the fairway where the water can become too shallow for a loaded vessel: a sandbank, a stretch that is dredged, a bridge or a lock. The waterway authority surveys it regularly and publishes the lowest depth found, together with the gauge level on the day of the survey.
The page takes that depth and adjusts it by the change in level since the survey. That is why today's figure can be lower or higher than the one in the notice. Where the authority publishes today's depth directly, the page takes that value as it is. At bridges and locks, the figure that matters may be clear height or width, not depth.
Not every point has a depth for today. If the gauge has no recent reading, the depth cannot be estimated, and the page leaves the cell empty rather than inventing a number.
Depth by sector
Sectors are not administrative divisions: they are groups of critical points read together, usually those tied to the same gauge. For each sector the card shows the lowest depth today among its points, the point that gives it, and the date of the survey. Below the shallow-water threshold shown in the legend the sector is marked “shallow”; above it, “good”.
Today's depth is either estimated from the survey and the gauge level, or published directly by the authority; it is not a measurement taken today. The survey may be from last week or last year, and the gauge correction accounts for how much the water has risen or fallen since.
A negative depth means the surveyed shoal is above today’s water. The page does not print a minus sign: it shows zero centimetres and “shoal above water”, and marks the sector as not navigable at the current level. A sector with no gauge reading today gets no depth: a gap is better than a misleading number.
How to read the table
The table below the cards lists every critical point in the selected country. The Point column gives the name, and RKM is the river kilometre: on the Danube it is counted upstream from the mouth into the Black Sea, on tributaries from their own mouth. The higher the number, the further upstream the point.
The type says what kind of place it is: a shoal, a dredging area, a bridge or a lock / dam. The lowest depth is today’s, in centimetres; LDC, HDC and ENR are reference levels of the gauge, not depths measured under a vessel. The survey date is the day the fairway was measured; if it is more than a few months old, the note “old survey” appears and the figure is only indicative.
You can change the order by clicking the RKM, Depth or Survey column heading. By default the most recent survey comes first. A row without a depth does not mean the passage is clear: it means we have no reliable figure.
About the data. This page is for information and does not replace the official notices. Depths change with the water level, and an old survey may no longer describe today's fairway. Check the waterway authority's notices before you sail. Sources and attributions are on the About page. About
All critical points · Bulgaria
| Point | RKM | Type | Minimum depth (cm) | Survey |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SomovitSurvey: 2 October 2026 | 609 | Shallow | 216 cm | |
| Palets islandSurvey: 6 October 2026 | 586 | Shallow | 236 cm | |
| G. Byrzina islandSurvey: 30 September 2026 | 576 | Shallow | 176 cm | |
| Belene islandSurvey: 30 September 2026 | 565 | Shallow | 206 cm | |
| SvishtovSurvey: 30 October 2026 | 555 | Shallow | 176 cm | |
| Vardim islandSurvey: 6 October 2026 | 547 | Shallow | 186 cm | |
| Vardim islandSurvey: 1 October 2026 | 545 | Shallow | 206 cm | |
| Sector km 539Survey: 31 October 2026 | 539 | Shallow | 216 cm | |
| Sector km 536Survey: 31 October 2026 | 536 | Shallow | 226 cm | |
| Sector km 530Survey: 11 September 2026 | 530 | Shallow | 226 cm | |
| Batin islandSurvey: 6 October 2026 | 527 | Shallow | 217 cm | |
| Batin islandSurvey: 6 October 2026 | 523 | Shallow | 227 cm | |
| RuseSurvey: 8 October 2026 | 492 | Shallow | 257 cm | |
| Dunav MostSurvey: 4 June 2026 · old survey | 489 | Shallow | 227 cm | |
| Gostin islandSurvey: 25 September 2026 | 476 | Shallow | 227 cm | |
| Mishka islandSurvey: 23 September 2026 | 463 | Shallow | 217 cm | |
| Braschlian islandSurvey: 20 October 2026 | 455 | Shallow | 207 cm | |
| Kosui island 2Survey: 20 October 2026 | 428 | Shallow | 210 cm | |
| Albina islandSurvey: 24 September 2026 | 414 | Shallow | 160 cm | |
| PopinaSurvey: 24 September 2026 | 405 | Shallow | 190 cm | |
| Vereshti islandSurvey: 2 September 2026 | 400 | Shallow | 260 cm | |
| Vetren islandSurvey: 24 September 2026 | 395 | Shallow | 260 cm | |
| Chaika islandSurvey: 23 September 2026 | 387 | Shallow | 190 cm |
Depths at the gauge level of the latest update (lower Danube), from the latest survey. A negative value means the section is not navigable at that level. Always check the official notices before sailing. JSON (API)