It is well known that the Gallery forest and its full functioning are related to seasonal floods and hydrological regime of the river, which is notably affected by anthropogenic influence on the downstream of the river Iori. The main function of the reservoirs in the gorge, including Sioni, Paldo and Dali mountains is to control hydrological regime of the river and to use flowing water for irrigation and drinking, which on its turn, had an influence on the gallery forest.

At present, the river Iori is regulated from its upstream to confluence and no floods, and freshets occur, especially downstream of Sioni and Paldo reservoirs, from where Iori valley is slowly expanding and turns from a typical mountainous river into a typical lowland river. Although the downstream of the river (below the Paldo reservoir) is much bigger than its up- stream (above the Paldo reservoir), seasonal floods and freshets do not occur there due to climate conditions.

Read more in our hydrological report on the river Iori.