WATER GEOGRAPHICAL OBJECTS OF GEORGIA AND THEIR RATIONAL USE

Water and water resources are the primary ones among the natural riches of Georgia. Hydro-energetic potential of Georgia (rivers, lakes, water reservoirs, ices, underground waters, bogs) is on one of the first places in the world. The territory of Georgia is rich in water resources. The river system of Georgia has almost 26 thousand rivers. 44 reservoirs with a total area of 163 km ². In the West Georgia water of reservoirs mainly is used to run hydropower stations and in the East Georgia they use it for irrigation. By 1941 Georgian reservoirs' total power was 180 mbt. In 1945-1960 - 11 hydropower stations entered in exploitation. Building of hydropower stations causes big changes in the environment. That's why it is important to conduct complex analyses, which consider all expected changes in the environment. We hope that by the end of water recourses usage project will considerably increase water reservoirs exploitation. The country has 850 lakes.. The largest of them - Paravani (37.5 km ²) and Tabatskura (14.2 km ²) on Javakheti Plateau and Paleostomi (18.2 km ²) on the Black Sea coast, at the mouth of the Rioni River. The sand dunes displaced by the sae waves along the coast for centuries moved the lagoon away the saline water of the sae, pure water flowing from the river Pichori into lake Paliastomi made lake water fresh and as a result an ideal living environment for different species of fish was created in the three-meter-deep natural reservoir. Colchis wetlands in the first place, are important in its relict origin. This lowland is the remain of Cenozoic era – tropical and subtropical landscape, which about 10 million years ago was stretched as continuous line on the whole Eurasian continent. In Kolkheti the plants, which are characteristic for a remote northern tundra nd taiga wetlands, still exist. Kolkheti National Park Administration offers boat tours on Lake Paliastomi and river Pichori gorge, as well as sport fishing, bird watching and eco-educational tours. Tours are carried out throughout the year Despite the abundance of water bodies and large recreational potential, they are rarely used in the field of tourism. They are mainly used for hydropower and irrigation purposes. Statistics of recent years shows that there is growing interest of tourists to this object. Water resources of Georgia allows the development of different types of water adventure tourism - rafting, diving, canyoning. We hope that the completion of projects of water resources in tourism significantly increase use of such facilities for the purpose of recreation. Currently used in only 20% of water resources. The aim of the article is to show the perspectives of multiple use of water resources of Georgia.