Water supply and sanitation in Georgia is characterized by achievements and challenges. Among the achievements is the improvement of water services in the capital Tbilisi where the water supply is now continuous and of good quality, major improvements in the country's third-largest city Batumi on the Black Sea where the country's first modern wastewater treatment plant now is under operation, as well as a general increase in access to drinking water in the entire country. Water and sewer tariffs remain affordable, with the private water company Georgian Water and Power (GWP) serving the capital being financially viable and profitable, while the public water company serving most of the rest of the country remains financially weak. The improvements were achieved after the Rose Revolution of 2004 when the government decided to reform the sector and to invest in it after many years of neglect.
Among the remaining challenges are poor service quality in many areas outside the two largest cities, a declining access to improved sanitation in rural areas according to survey results, and insufficient treatment of wastewater.
History When the Soviet Union collapsed and Georgia became independent in 1991, its water supply and sanitation infrastructure was in bad shape. Maintenance had been neglected for many years and service quality was poor, with intermittent supply and often poor drinking water quality. After independence there was no clear government commitment to address the deficiencies in water supply and sanitation and service quality deteriorated even further. For example, operation of the wastewater treatment plant of the capital Tbilisi was stopped because the city was unable to afford to pay for its electricity bill after electricity tariffs had been increased. In 2003 a report by the OECD found that the Georgian urban water and sanitation sector was seriously under-financed, given its long neglect. The report noted that the collection rate of water bills was 70% for businesses and only 34% for households. The report recommended increasing collection efficiency and to double the water and sewer tariff in areas outside the capital until they reached the highest affordable level. This was defined as 95% of households spending less than 2.5% of their income on their water and sewer bill. The OECD recommended to leave the tariff in Tbilisi unchanged, because it had already reached the limit of affordability. Furthermore, the government should increase its spending for water supply and sanitation, reform the sector's structure and strengthen human and institutional capacities.
After the Rose Revolution of 2003 a new government began to seriously address the issues in the sector. As a first step, the government took away the responsibility for water supply and sanitation from local governments and, for the areas outside the capital, transferred it to two state-owned Limited Liability Companies, Western Water and Eastern Water. In 2010 they were merged into one company, the United Water Supply Company of Georgia (UWSCG). Investments to improve the infrastructure in the services area of UWSCG were financed primarily by foreign donors through loans and grants implemented by the Municipal Development Fund of Georgia, while UWSCG is in charge of operating the water and sewer systems.
A second step was the privatization of the Tbilisi Water Supply Company. In 2006, a credit of 25 million USD had been approved by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to rehabilitate the water and sanitation infrastructure of Tbilisi. But the government refused the loan and instead opted for full privatization. In November 2007 it decided to sell the company to Multiplex Energy Limited, a newly created company whose ownership was not known to the public. The new company was obliged to keep tariffs unchanged for the next five years and to make substantial improvements, including the rehabilitation of the sewer infrastructure by 2012, 24-hour water supply within the entire service area by 2015 and the construction of a new wastewater treatment plant at Gardabani to replace the dilapidated existing plant by 2018. The private company took over its responsibilities in May 2008. A performance incentive system for employees and a new billing system were introduced, and connections were gradually retrofitted with meters reaching 23% of customers in 2013. According to an independent study, the overall results of water privatization in Tbilisi were positive. While staffing levels did gradually decrease from 1,962 full-time equivalents in 2006 to 1,606 in 2012, training and overall job satisfaction all increased. The average income of employees doubled between 2006 and 2013. This was more than the inflation rate during the same period, but increases were not as high as the average for water and power companies in Georgia. Furthermore, physical water losses and water theft (non-revenue water) decreased slightly (from 42% in 2006 to 38% in 2013) and water supply became continuous within the old administrative borders of Tbilisi in 2013.
The government also wanted to include Autonomous Republic of Adjara in the service area of UWSCG in 2010. However, this was opposed by the German state-owned development bank KfW that provided substantial funding for water supply and sanitation in Batumi on behalf of the German government. Adjara was thus excluded. In 2014 the government made a second attempt to included Adjara in the service area of the United Water Company through a decree issued by the Prime Minister, but this attempt was also foiled. De jure water and wastewater management in Adjara remains decentralized, but actually the government in Tbilisi is involved in all important decisions so that de facto it is as centralized as in other regions of Georgia. On the one hand, the Batumi water company remains financially weak, with non-revenue water as high as 90%, significant amounts of unpaid bills. As a result, tariff revenues were only 0.7 million Laris (USD 0.4m) in 2014, while operating costs stood at 10 million Laris (USD 5.7m), of which 45% were for salaries, according to an audit by the state auditor. On the other hand, there have been many notable improvements in service quality in Batumi. For example, a separate stormwater drainage system has been built, preventing flooding that had previously been frequent. 70% of customers now receive water 24 hours a day, and a modern wastewater treatment plant has been commissioned in 2012. The plant functions properly, so that the quality of coastal waters has improved substantially, benefiting tourism and making it possible to eat again locally caught fish. Both the investments costs and the energy consumption of the trickling filter plant are extremely low, for which the Austrian engineering company working on the plant was honored with an innovation award by the International Water Association (IWA), a professional association.
Water resources
Georgia has abundant water resources. Among the total water resources of 63 billion m3/year (long-term average) only 1.6 billion m3/year or about 2% are being abstracted. About two thirds of the abstracted water is used for irrigated agriculture, and the other third for municipal and industrial uses. Despite the abundance of water resources, the Eastern part of Georgia is relatively dry and is regularly affected by droughts. The country's major river, the Kura River, rises in Turkey and receives half of its flow from snowmelt and glaciers. The river, which flows from Georgia to Azerbaijan, is increasingly polluted downstream of Tbilisi.
Access and water use Access to water supply and sanitation in Georgia is high. Based on household surveys and census results, the Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation estimates that access to an improved water source was universal in 2015. Access to improved sanitation stood at 86% (95% in urban areas, 76% in rural areas). According to these estimates based on census and household survey data access to water improved from 96% in 1990 to 100% in 2010, while access to sanitation declined from 98% in 1990 to 86% in 2015. The decline in access to sanitation was most marked in rural areas, where it declined from 96% estimated during a survey in 1996 to 79% estimated through a survey in 2013. The definition of improved sanitation includes pit latrines with slabs, while it excludes pit latrines without slabs. It is often difficult for surveyors conducting general household surveys to get reliable responses to the question that refers to the exact type of latrine in a house, so that the above access numbers should be treated with some caution.
Per capita water use in Georgia varies greatly between localities. In 2003 it varied between 743 liters/capita/day in Tbilisi and only 31 liters in Zugdidi, a small town in Western Georgia. This compares to 100 - 150 liters in Central Europe. Consumption was estimated at 94 liters in Rustavi, 116 liters in Kutaisi and 432 liters in Batumi. The mean time of supply per day was estimated at 12 hours, with the lowest value being 3 hours in the small town of Gurjaani in Eastern Georgia. In many towns water was not disinfected at all or only seasonally.
Infrastructure
Tbilisi obtains most of its drinking water from the basin of the Aragvi River north of the city. Groundwater (60% of the total) is pumped from well fields, while surface water (40%) is mostly obtained from the reservoir of the Zhinvali Dam 42 km from the city. The water is treated in two plants: the Samgori plant built in the 1950s and the Grmagele plant, located at the Zhinvali Dam, built in the 1980s. The length of the water distribution network in Tbilisi is 3,600 km. About 35% of the main network is made of iron pipes and 65% of steel pipes. Polyethylene pipes have been installed only recently. There are 84 reservoirs and 169 pumps. The sewer network consists of 1,600 km of pipes made of ceramic, reinforced concrete, cast iron, asbestos cement and polyethylene. The wastewater is transferred by trunk sewer with a length of 72 km to the Gardabani waste water treatment plant commissioned in 1979 with a capacity of 1 million m3/day. The biological treatment at the plant is not in operation due to its high energy consumption and the associated high cost. The untreated wastewater is discharged into the Kura River.
Service quality
Drinking water quality Tbilisi is provided with an up-to-date high-quality water supply service ensuring delivery of good quality drinking water without significant interruptions 24 hours a day. However, outside the capital the quality of drinking water often fails to meet state standards. It sometimes contains sediments and has inappropriate smell and color. Furthermore, as of 2008 about 30% of the population outside Tbilisi received water for less than 12 hours per day, and many people living on upper floors did not receive water at all due to low pressure.
Wastewater treatment 70% of the population is connected to sewers. However, as of 2010 all wastewater treatment plants established during the Soviet period were out of order or provided only primary treatment. As a result, untreated municipal wastewater is a major polluter of surface waters.
Legal and institutional framework