A major component of the Volga-Baltic Waterway (formerly called the Mariinsk Canal System), linking Saint Petersburg (therefore the Baltic Sea) with the Volga River basin, is the Sheksna River, which drains the southeastern part of White Lake (Beloe ozero). The original length of the Sheksna was 395km, from White Lake to the Sheksna’s confluence with the Volga at the town of Rybinsk. The Sheksna is now largely hidden by vast reservoirs created in the mid-20th century that submerged the land along the river.
