Danube – Black Sea Canal

Danube–Black Sea Canal
Aerial view of the canal at its eastern end, in Constanța South Seaport
Countries	Romania
Counties	Constanța County
Tributaries
- left	Main Branch Valea Plantației, Valea Cișmelei, Agi Cabul, Castelu, Nisipari Carasu Canal Nazarcea, Valea Adâncă Agigea Canal Cocoș, Valea Seacă, Potârnichea, Lazu
- right	Main Branch Popa Nica, Medgidia, Siminoc, Șerplea Agigea Canal Agigea
Settlements	Cernavodă, Ștefan cel Mare, Saligny, Mircea Vodă, Medgidia, Castelu, Poarta Albă, North Branch (Carasu Canal) Nazarcea, Ovidiu, Năvodari South Branch (Agigea Canal) Murfatlar, Cumpăna, Agigea
Mouth	Black Sea
- location	Lake Siutghiol and Lake Agigea
Length	95.6 km (59 mi)
Basin	1,031 km2 (398 sq mi)
Official River Code	XV.1.10b
Danube (in blue) and the Canal (in red)

The Danube–Black Sea Canal (Romanian: Canalul Dunăre – Marea Neagră) is a canal in Romania, which runs from Cernavodă, on the Danube, to Constanța (southern arm, as main branch), and to Năvodari (northern arm), on the Black Sea. Administrated from Agigea, it is an important part of the European canal system that links the North Sea (through the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal) to the Black Sea. The main branch of the canal, with a length of 64.4 km (40.0 mi), which connects the Port of Cernavodă with the Port of Constanța, was built in 1976–1984, while the north branch, known as the Poarta Albă – Midia Năvodari Canal, with a length of 31.2 km (19.4 mi), between Poarta Albă and Port of Midia, was built in 1983–1987.

The Canal was notorious as the site of labor camps in 1950s Communist Romania, when, at any given time, several tens of thousands of political prisoners worked on its excavation. The total number of people used as a workforce for the entire period is unknown, as is the number of people who died in the construction. These works were later used in the Carasu irrigation system.

The course of the canal follows mostly the course of the former Carasu River, originally a tributary of the Danube. Therefore, hydrographically it also has the function of conveying the runoff from a 1,031 km² (398 sq mi) drainage basin to the Black Sea.