ISHIM RIVER

also spelled Iim, Kazak Esil, river in Kazakstan and Tyumen and Omsk oblasti (provinces) of south-central Russia. A left-bank tributary of the Irtysh (Ertis), it rises in the Niyaz Hills in the north of the Saryarqa (Kazak Uplands), flows west through Astana, and then north through Petropavl and the flat Ishim Steppe before entering the Irtysh at Ust-Ishim. Its total length is 1,522 miles (2,450 km), and it drains an area of 55,600 square miles (144,000 sq km). Mainly snow fed, it overflows its banks in spring and becomes shallow in summer. There is some navigation. From the Sergeyevka Reservoir southwest of Petropavl large water mains carry water 2,175 miles (3,500 km) to farm settlements in Kkchetau and Qostanay provinces.