Lake Kumisi

Lake Kumisi

Kumisi Lake is an artificial lake in the eastern part of Georgia, just southeast of the village of Kumisi. It was once a lake, but now it is a reservoir. On the southern shore of the lake is the village of New Kumis, and nearby is the railway station. The lake is located at an altitude of 475 meters above sea level in the basin of the same name between the plateau of Yagluji and the plain of Tsalaskuri. The area of the lake is 5.4 km2, and the basin area is 97 km2, extending 3.2 km from west to east, and 2 km from north to south. The maximum depth reaches up to 4 meters. Back in the 1960s, the surface of the lake was only 0.48 km2 and its deepness reached only 50 cm. Before the expansion of the lake, its water was bitter-salty. Up until 1967, salt water seeped out of the rocks. In the year 1967 a large-scale project was carried out - the salt water was removed from the lake and two canals were built, and a canal for irrigation from the lake was made. Nowadays rainwater and small streams feed the lake, and it is supplied with water from the Mtkvari River via an artificial channel and water pumps. The reservoir is used for watering, and the bed of the lake is filled with sulfide mud with therapeutic qualities. In the balneological resort of Tbilisi Kumisi mud is actively used.