Gela Mtivlishvili, Kakheti
47 families in the village of Bogdanovka in Sagarejo district (Kakheti region) live in unbearable conditions. The basements and ground floors of their houses have been flooded for several years already. The local population has made draining-channels in their houses in order to save their houses from flooding. 10 houses were flooded in the village of Kurdghelauri in Telavi district too. The victims pour away the water from their rooms in turn day and night.
“Frogs are jumping in the rooms. I get up wet from the bed in the morning. We take our blankets and mattresses out to dry in the sun,” said a resident of Bogdanovka Lali Kartvelishvili.
“The houses are so damaged that they might be pulled down by a slight earthquake or a strong wind. We cannot sleep peacefully during the rain; the water-level might increase in the rooms and we can drown in it. We pour water away from the rooms every morning but it cannot help our problem,” said a Bogdanovka resident Aleksandre Ozgeldov.
“Nobody tries to resolve our problem. Short time ago, they brought some installation and it really helped us. But then they took it back because they could not buy enough fuel for it,” said Nino Iadze.
The Bogdanovka population has petitioned to the district administration, Kakheti regional administration, the ministry of environment and natural resources but all in vain. They even sent letter to the administration of the president of Georgia, but they have not been replied yet.
Commissary of Bogdanovka territorial entity at the Sagarejo municipal board Mikheil Obolashvili said special activities shall be carried out to eradicate the problem; however, local budget cannot afford it.
“There is a clay layer under the village and it does not let the water leak into the ground. Consequently, the soil water leaks out in this district. The drainage shall be renewed in order to eradicate the problem; it is full of rubbish and should be cleaned. We need about 50 000 GEL for cleaning activities but the local budget cannot afford it. We can also pump the water from the houses but the pump needs 10 liters of fuel in three hours and who will pay it? Neither people can afford it nor the budget has enough funds. A month ago, representatives of the melioration service center visited the village; we petitioned to the president but there has been no reply yet,” said Mikheil Obolashvili.
Deputy regional governor Giorgi Sibashvili stated that the CENN (Caucasian Environmental NGO Network) is working on the special project for this problem.
10 houses are flooded in the village of Kurdghelauri in Telavi district. The water flows directly into houses in Otaraant Ubani in the village. More than 30 houses are damp and their walls are pulling down. Part of the population pumps the water from the rooms and basements with their own resources; but another part thinks that pumping of the water is useless because the rooms get flooded in several hours.
“I do not sleep at night in order to pump out the water. The procedure needs so much electricity that we have to pay huge bills every month. It is already very dangerous to live in these houses,” said Vara Grishikashvili.
Nino Otarahsvili, victim: “It is useless to pump out the water. So much water is leaking into the room that it gets flooded in half an hour. We made a hole in the wall to help the water leak outside.”
The depth of the water in Akaki Mamukelashvili’s basement is 1, 50 meter.
“The district governor said half million GEL is necessary to eradicate this problem and they cannot afford it. If their families had similar problem, they would have found the funds immediately. We do not know what to do; we have nowhere to go; otherwise we would not have stayed here for a long time,” said Zina Jimshitashvili.
Vasil Davitashvili, Telavi district governor: “It is not easy to pump out water from houses. 7 000 GEL was allocated from the district budget to make siphon system in Kurdghelauri village. This system could pump out the water from the houses and release them into the pipes. If this system works, the problem will be eradicated at least for some time.
“In order to eradicate the problem for ever, we should install drainages which will cost half million GEL. We will prepare new budget in January-February of 2011 and we will see whether we will have enough funds for it.”
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