Small rivers are an important component of water resources. Currently, there are more than 22,000 small rivers in Ukraine, the length of which exceeds 100,000 km. The vast majority of small rivers do not have names and do not appear on geographical maps, but 50% of the urban and 90% of the rural population live in the territories of their basins. They are the main source of water supply for industrial, municipal, agricultural enterprises and are used for fish breeding and people’s recreation. Over the past two decades, more than 10,000 small rivers have disappeared from the map of Ukraine. The purpose of the work was to establish the current state of the network of small rivers in the Dniester River basin. The economic development of catchment areas of small rivers and the change in the hydrographic river network of the right tributaries of the Dniester were analyzed, as well as the main factors of anthropogenic influence on small rivers and their resistance to degradation. It has been established that small rivers are characterized by a higher level of pollution than large ones, and many of them are in various stages of degradation or even under threat of disappearance.