Canals in Ukraine (Ukrainian: Канали України) are mostly for irrigation or water supply. Most of them are supervised by the Canal Administration of the State Agency of water resources of Ukraine. As the rest of water resources canals compose the Water Fund of Ukraine and are included into the Water Cadastre (register) of Ukraine.
Most of the canals are constructed in the basins of the Dnieper and Siversky Donets, with some in the Danube basin. Their main purpose is water supply, irrigation, and drainage of land; they are also used partially for fish farming and recreation.
One of the oldest operating canals in Ukraine today is the Northern Crimean Canal that starts from the Kakhovka Reservoir on Dnieper near Nova Kakhovka and stretches for 400 km (250 mi) across the Northern Crimea and the Kerch Peninsula. Its construction started in 1957 for irrigation of the Kherson Oblast steppe regions and Crimea as well as water supply to Simferopol, Sevastopol, other populated places, and the Kerch Industrial District. The canal is designed to pass 380 m3 (500 cu yd) per second of water. It provides water to the Krasnoznamianka, Chapli, Kolonchak, Krasnoperekopsk, Krasnohvardiyske, Pervomaiske, and other irrigation systems with a total area of over 350,000 ha (1,400 sq mi).
Equally important is the Dnieper-Donbas Canal that is intended for water supply of Kharkiv and cities of the Donets basin as well as land irrigation. It takes its start from the Dniprodzerzhynsk Water Reservoir on the Dnieper then runs through valleys of river Orel and Orelka towards the Krasnopavlivske Water Reservoir, further to Siversky Donets near the city of Izyum. The first stage of the canal which has a length of over 260 km (160 mi) was built in 1970-1981. Next the canal passes almost to city of Donetsk and has a length of 263 km (163 mi).
The Siversky Donets - Donbas Canal, designed to supply 25 m3 (33 cu yd) per second of water was placed into service in 1958.
The Main Kakhovka Magistrale Canal stretches from the Kakhovka Reservoir on the Dnieper upstream of Kakhovka across Pontic steppes almost to the Molochna estuary (liman) and has a length of 130 km (81 mi). The canal was constructed in 1980 for irrigation of agricultural lands. It is also used for water supply to populated places. Its flow rate is up to 520 m3 (680 cu yd). Around the lands of Askania Nova for environmental measures was built a vertical drainage around whole contour of the reserve.
The Dnieper - Kryvyi Rih Canal stretches from the Kakhovka Reservoir on Dnieper near the village of Marianske (Dnipropetrovsk Oblast) towards the region of Kryvyi Rih and has a total length of over 40 km (25 mi). It is designed for water supply of Kryvbas and irrigation of surrounding farmlands. It was built in 1957-1961 and reconstructed in 1975-1979. The total volume of water supplied by the canal for the purposes of water supply is 929,000,000 m3 (753,000 acre⋅ft), for irrigation - 93,000,000 m3 (75,000 acre⋅ft) per year.
The Dnieper-Inhulets Canal (Kirovohrad Oblast) runs from the Kremenchuk Water Reservoir on Dnieper to the Inhulets River, has a length of 40 km (25 mi), and is used for irrigation and water supply.
Canals play a large role in the irrigation of agricultural lands. The biggest irrigation systems operate in the zone of the Northern Crimean Canal (irrigation area is over 300,000 ha (1,200 sq mi)) in Crimea and Kherson Oblast.