Environmental Health Disaster looms in Abastumani

Ancient resort town, famous for its mineral water, is left without clean drinking water and has become a breeding ground of diseases. The Otskhe River is highly polluted and municipal garbage can be seen everywhere.

A journalist from the Human Rights Center’s Samtskhe-Javakheti region was shocked by the stories that many locals told her while she was visiting the southern Georgian town of Abastumani. The poor quality, if not complete lack of drinking water has left many in the village wondering how much longer they can survive.

“It is a resort house but has no water. Can there be more irony?” “Please write about drinking water,” “We wonder who will pay attention to us,” “people become happy at other’s unhappiness,” these are phrases of desperate people.
“I cannot keep silence regarding the water. You should see the dirty water we are drinking! It is no use boiling or filtering it, the water remains the same. If you boil water, worms are boiled too and if you filter you cannot be sure that the worms have not already infected the water,” said Nino Obolashvili, an Abastumani resident.

“The well for drinking water is open and a cow fell into it. The population was unaware and they drank the same water that a cow was decomposing in. We are surprised that we are still alive,” said local resident Tsiuri Totashvili.

Former Gamgebeli (district governor) of the resort town, Anton Merabishvili, was appointed to the position of representative of Adigeni Municipality Gamgebeli to Abastumani. He said that “The drinking water well is destroyed and huge expenses are necessary to repair it. I doubt that even the total state budget will be enough to repair it.”

The journalist for the Human Rights Center asked Merabishvili what the population would do if the well is not repaired. He answered: “The only thing I can tell you is that the snow is now beginning to melt in the mountains and the water will become even dirtier. Thus, we advise the population to boil it before drinking. My children and I drink this water too.”

Merabishvili gave reliable promise to the Abastumani population.

“In December 2006, Adigeni Municipality Gamgebeli and I submitted a project on supplying the drinking water of the local population to the World Investigation Fund and we hope we will receive some results.”

People do not know what to drink until there will be “some results”.

Abastumani Tuberculosis Hospital is a double floored building and located in the center of the resort town. The hospital is dedicated to people with tuberculosis. It has become clear that the hospital does not have a filtering system and that all of the buildings sewage leaks into the Otskhe River. The river flows across the town and the population resides on both sides of it. The Environmental Organization’s Akhaltsikhe Office discovered tuberculosis bacillus in the river.

Local people have complained regarding the alarming situation several times, however….

“We cannot understand whether the Otskhe is a river or an actual garbage dump. Everything is floating in its water: bags, children’s napkins, needles, boxes, food remains. Dead hens, dogs… you name it,’ said Totashvili.

Domestic animals from the villages near the river drink water from this river and then local people eat their meat.

Gulo Kokhodze, Abastumani