The purpose of this study is to improve the rational use of the Crimea's water resources for land reclamation. The Autonomous Republic of Crimea is among the least water rich regions of Russia for number of local water resources. Its water resources are rivers, reservoirs and groundwater. The problem of fresh water shortage has always been relevant for the Crimea because of the arid climate and peculiarities of the river network development. With the accession of the Crimean Autonomous Republic to the Russian Federation and the shutdown of the North Crimean Main Canal by Ukraine, the shortage of fresh water has increased even more, and the country faced the problem of growing agricultural food crops in the required quantity. The main sources of water supply of the peninsula and their percentage ratio are considered. The analysis of volumes of irrigated lands of the Crimea for a number of years is given, the parameters of the reservoir capacity and the approximate estimation of water volumes that can be delivered for irrigation in a average weighted availability year are presented. The materials used are data from literary sources, field survey data of some authors, etc. To perform the tasks set, the analytical method, the special methods and the method of statistical data processing are used. The right choice and rational application of various irrigation methods to agricultural land is vital to increase the rationality of the Crimea's water resources use for land reclamation. At present the area of irrigated land in the Republic of Crimea has reached 75 % of all agricultural land. This has been achieved by the exclusion of surface irrigation by furrows, strips, etc., only by sprinkling. As a result, irrigation rates fell by 25–30 %. This result can be increased to 50 % of water saving for irrigation using more progressive methods of irrigation. One of the modern and innovative methods that increase the rationality of water use is water management modeling, which allows solving the entire range of water management tasks by creating a simulation model based on the application of water balance methods.
Key words: Crimean peninsula, water resources, shortage, water use, land reclamation, water management modeling.
