Khochabeki – A Waterless Settlement in the Samtskhe-Javakheti Region of Georgia

Gulo Kokhodze, Ninotsminda

Khochabeki is a settlement in the suburbs of Ninotsminda; locals call it a village. Local residents dream of having water-tap in their yards. Every morning starts with the same procedure in Khochabeki that has gone on for years: people fetch water by cars, horses or carrying it by hand from the town center.

Neighbors bring water for grandmother Ema, she is 75 and lives in Khochabeki.

“People have many dreams but if you live in such a horrible place you can dream only about a supply of water. We dream of water day and night,” said the old woman and added “I am sorry to trouble neighbors all the time. However, if we only had water tap in the yard I could bring it myself as I cannot carry water tanks from the distance of several kilometers. I have rheumatism and cannot walk because of the unbearable pains,” she said

Many old retired people live in the settlement besides grandmother Ema who hope generous people will assist them.

“There will always be a kind person who will not be so lazy to not give you at least one glass of water,” said 68-year-old Armen Aghaian.

Residents of Khochabeki suffer from lack of water, which is particularly a problem in the winter.

The local authority has information about the problems of Khochabeki residents. Certain amount of money was allocated from the local budget to fix the problem.

“Within the program “Nodaristskali” we plan to restore the water-system in South-Eastern part of Ninotsminda and 300, 000 GEL is ear marked for that purpose. Besides, local budget has allocated 27, 000 GEL to repair the water reservoir which is long overdue, as it has not been repaired for nearly twenty years. In order to start normal working of the water system, the water reservoir must also be repaired. Thus, we decided to restore old one,” said Suren Mosoian, Ninotsminda District Governor.

The district governor told that repairs on the water reservoir will soon be completed.

“The reservoir will be repaired within a month and the water system will be finished by the end of October. We hope Khochabeki will have water by the end of October,” said Suren Mosoian.

Evidently, in spite of the promises, locals are not convinced as they do not believe such kinds of promises any more. “I wish the water was really supplied to our settlement but…” local people do not end the speech with such simple statements and they have heard so many broken promises.

However, the never-ending complaints will definitely continue until taps have been installed in their own yards and that the water is flowing. In the meantime locals will only believe promises when they see the results, as they have been hearing empty promises for many years and now they only want running water.