Lapka, river

Categories / City Topography/Waterways and Currents/Rivers
LAPKA, a river in the east of St. Petersburg, in the area of Rzhevka and Porokhovye. Formerly a tributary to the Okhta River, the Lapka used to flow into the Okhta six kilometres above the mouth of the latter, in the area of the village of Malinovka. The name of the river, known from the 18th century, comes from a distorted version of the Izhora word labta which means а lowland river, or a river flowing through the plains. The Lapka drains out of the marshes located to the north-west at the foot of the Koltushi Hills. The length of the river within the actual city of St. Petersburg measures less than 1 kilometre. The dominant width of the Lapka River is 5-8 metres with the depth is approximately a metre. The river flows in a meandering, sharply incut course. Part of the river in its lower reaches was filled in in the 1970s, during construction work at Rzhevka and Porokhovye, so at present the Lapka flows into a lake-shaped expanse located in Rzhevsky Forest Park, near Kommuny Street. The ponds are situated in the recreation zone between Kosygina Avenue and Entuziastov Avenue, where there are also traces of the Lapka.

Y. P. Seliverstov. Entuziastov Ave/Saint Petersburg, city
Kommuny St./Saint Petersburg, city
Kosygina Ave/Saint Petersburg, city