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Assessment of contemporary river channel changes of the Prut River on the Romanian side. The main idea of our study are: typological setting of the Prut river channel, morphometrical variability of the floodplain and river channels, changes of the river cross sections in the longitudinal profile. Several variables were systematically measured (width, sinuosity index, meander morphometry, bed level changes, together with water and sediment transportates) along over 900 km of river. The Stânca-Costeşti Reservoir is the most important controlling factor of the contemporary channel changes: the Prut River is a sinuous to meandered river upstream the Stânca-Costeşti Reservoir and meandered and very meandered downstream; within the cross section, bed aggradations are dominant upstream of the reservoir and a succesive bed degradation–aggradation features the downstream sector of the reservoir. On the whole, river bed degradation is important because of the flow regulation.