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After querying our contact person in Akvo, our speaker coming Sunday Thomas Bjelkeman, for a recommended shortlist of their big project portfolio within areas of water and sanitation, we landed in the dialogue within Norrköping Twestival and Akvo to support a water resource protection project in Tbilisi, Georgia. For project summary on Akvo’s project site, go here.

“Near Europe”-projects hard to fund and get support for - we’re here to change!

It is often hard to recruit funding to projects “near Europe”, and we took advantage of this opportunity to address that water and sanitation problems are everywhere, not just in developing economies in South America, Sub-Saharan Africa and South-East Asia. In other words, it is easier to recruit engangement, care and energy to support field activists with their struggle to fix the stuff needed in Bangladesh, Ethiopia or Colombia, but much harder to do so in e. g. Moldova or some other Eastern Europe countries. In World-bankish lingo these countries, the former communist countries and empires, are called “EIT” - Economies in Transition - and often suffer on the same level of poverty problems and unsustainable livelihoods.

Thus, spotlight on protecting the water supplies of Tbilisi, Georgia!

The project plans to build 5 high standard Demonstration Urine Diverting Dry toilets and grey water treatment systems in the water catchment area for Tbilisi, in order to raise awareness about water protection. The population is partly wealthy, and can afford to invest in safe sanitation. In Tbilisi a big awareness raising campaign will be launched on drinking water protection. The project will be in partnership with local authorities, local environmental groups, Tbilisi water works and residents.

Current state

Tbilisi gets its water from the Aragvi river. The houses and summer houses along the river are not connected to sewage systems, thus their waste water is going directly into the river. In two treatment plants it undergoes sedimentation, rapid filtration and chlorination. The water quality is not optimal. There is little awareness about the importance of water protection and the problem of sewage water among the population. Several NGO’s in Georgia plan to implement a project for water protection along the Aragvi river.

First ceramic Urine Diverting toilets were delivered last year in August.