a city and center of Balta Raion, Odessa Oblast, Ukrainian SSR, located on the Kodyma River (basin of the Southern Bug), 8 km from the Balta railroad station. Balta is a highway junction. Population, 21,000 (1968). There is a furniture combine, fur factory, garment factory, butter and cheese plant, and carting equipment production plant. Balta also produces building materials. There is a pedagogical school. Balta has been the chief town of the district since 1797.
a floodplain of the Danube in Rumania, between the cities of Giurgiu and Galaţi. It is characterized by a labyrinth of branches and numerous lakes; it is most clearly articulated from Cǎlǎraşi to Brǎila (between both branches of the Danube). It is covered with overgrowths of cane and reeds, and on the sandy banks (called grindas) are thickets of willow and poplar.
The word “balta” has come to be a name for the marshy floodplains and flooded areas along the valleys of other rivers as well, especially in the territory of the Moldavian SSR and Rumania.