Geography of Georgia - Water Resources

The river system of Georgia comprises nearly 25 thousand rivers. They are fed mainly by thawed snow and glacial waters, underground waters and atmospheric precipitations.

The longest river, Kura (in Georgian language Mktvari) is 1,364 km. It is born in the mountains of the northern Turkey, crosses southern and eastern Georgia and flows into the Caspian Sea on the territory of Azerbaijan. The Kura feeds the Mingechaur water-storage basin. The Kura inflows – the Alazani (351 km), the Tori (320 km), and the Aragvi (66 km) - also flow into the Caspian Sea.

Another long and deep river, Rioni (327 km) starts from the Major Caucasus, runs across the Colchis lowland and flows into the Black Sea. So does one more important Georgian river - Inguri (213 km).

However, there are not so many lakes in Georgia. The largest of them is Lake Parvani (37.5 sq. km) and Lake Tabatskuri (14.2 sq. km) located on Dzhavahetia uplands and Lake Paleostomi (18.2 sq. km) at the Black Sea coast in the Rioni's estuary. Other large lakes are Lake Kartsakhi (26.3 sq. km), Lake Khanchali (3.3 sq. km), and Lake Dzhandari (10.6 sq. km).