Budaki Lagoon


Budaki, or Budaksky Lagoon is a Black Sea lagoon in Bessarabia, southern Ukraine. Located in 18 km from the city of Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi. The lagoon is separated from the Black Sea by the 80–200 m wide sandbar. The health spa town Sergiyivka is located on the coasts of the Budaki Lagoon.
The temporary connection between the lagoon and the sea is organised via artificial canal «Budaki», sometime via natural erosion of the sandbar. The lagoon is connected to the Dniester Estuary via canals «Bugaz-1» and «Bugaz-2». In the central part of the lagoon, in the town of Sergiyivka, the bridge is connect the town with the sandbar.
The lagoon has 17 km long, 1.5 km wide, 0.8-2.4 m elevation, area of 27–32 km². The length of the sandbar is about 18 km, its width is 80–200 m. The lagoon si shallow, maximal depth up to 2.2 m, average 1.05 m. In summer the temperature of the water is 26-28°С, up to 33 °C on shallow water.
In the last 20 years the salinity of the liman is ranged between 2 and 32‰. Now the most desalinated part is the Akkembet Bay and the northeast of the lagoon, which connected to the Dniester Estuary, and maximal mineralization is in southwest.
The name of the lagoon, Budaki is the old name of the village Prymorske, which origine from Bucak, means "corner", "nook". Another name of the lagoon, Shabolat, is origine from the name of another village, Shabo, which located north from the lagoon.