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Villages will remain without water

December 5, 2008

Nobody has seen the actual project plans; officials of the Ministry do not know anything it.

Saba Tsitsikashvili, Gori

 

 River Tedzami

The bed of the River Tedzami is going to be changed in Kaspi district. The construction has already starte, however there is not governmental agency that has to approve the project to demonstrate what the authority intends to do with the river bed. According to oral statements of governmental official, the intention is to build a new channel where the river will flow; sanitary water will flow in the old river bed. Environmental non-governmental organizations state changing of the river bed might cause a natural disaster.

Everything started in summer of 2008. Construction equipment started working on the bank of Tedzami River in July. Local were talking that they had been informed that the 15-kilomteres-long river bed was supposed to be changed, and that there would be a newly-constructed 30-kilometers-long river-bed that would flow in western direction. However, the plots of local residents are irrigated by the water of the River Mtkvari. Nonetheless, the local authority did not consider the pumps-houses on the Mtkvari valuable and decided to supply the villages with the water of Tedzami River. They then decided to cut off the water flow and dry up the river.

Instant Presentation

With the request of the local residents on August 4 initiators of the project arrived in the village of Akhalkalaki in Kaspi district. Officials from the ruling party and local authority arrived at the meeting in the company of police. Officials from the Ministry of Agriculture, Zurab Chinchilakashvili, Deputy Shida Kartli regional governor and initiators of the idea made oral presentation of the project. In their presentation the local residents heard several surprises, and to be more accurate:

Within the project the authority has planned to construct expensive water-reservoir and from where the water will be released into the newly-constructed channel that would now flow in the direction of Gori district. Below this reservoir there will be 15-kilomters-long dried channel till river Mtkvari. Residents of Akhalkalaki and nine more villages were explained that so-called sanitary water would be released into the old river-bed and it would contain a small amount of water. In parallel, the project does not envisage several dozens of channels of irrigation or drinking waters that is needed for neighboring villages, as if they do not exist at all.

Governmental officials were asked why they had planned to change the river-bed that is several-centuries-old and why the project authors did not consider the interests of the villagers residing along the embankment of the river Tedzami (other small channels are not considered in the project). In reply to the question, the governmental officials stated the central authority considers it is reasonable to implement the proposed project because it was written together with the team of the president Mikheil Saakashvili.

The project presentation caused discontent among the locals. Governmental officials did not answer other questions raised by the people.

Three days later (August 7) the war started in Georgia and the on-going works on the river bank stopped. However, now the authority has started back to drying the river bed and the process is proceeding at a high speed to make up for lost time.

Bit of information: River Tedzami

N. Tsereteli, a resident of the village of Akhalkalaki applied to the Human Rights Center’s Shida Kartli office regarding the problem.

According to his information, villages of Akhalkalaki, Garikula, Chocheti, Metekhi, Kvemo Gomi, Niabi, Borta, Barnabiantkari and others obtain their drinking water from the wells. If the River Tedzami is dried it might cause drying of their wells and some other abnormal processes. As a result of the breached ecosystem in the region the will face the threat of a total migration and a pending ecological disaster.

Akhalkalaki (in the past called “City of King”) was founded in 1634 on the embankment of the River Tedzami. Immediately the city was assigned with a very important function that resulted into the development of the old city.

Valley of the River Tedzami is perspective resort zone with its environment and healthy climate; it is one of the main wealth and attraction for the region. In summer the bank of the river is over-crowded with holiday-makers from morning till late evening. It is clear that the river is the source of economic activity and does much maintains a ecological balance as a public good.

Several dozens of irrigation channels coming from the bank of River Tedzami are the main irrigation artery for the village of Akhalkalaki and other villages in the neighborhood (Garikula, Tedzmiskhevi, Chocheti, Metekhi, Barnabiantkari, Borta, Niabi, Kvemo Gomi, Sasireti).

In summer the level of the water in the river decreases and there is lack of irrigation and drinking water in the area. Consequently, local residents often face various unpleasant periods due to a lack of water.

In the search of the project

Human Rights Center’s Shida Kartli Regional Office attempted to get access to a copy of the above-mentioned project, which has only been  orally presented by the authority and not in collaboration with other stakeholders.  However, none of the governmental agencies have been able to supply a copy as they don’t have one.

Nugzar Noniashvili, deputy Kaspi district governor, states that local authority does not hold any documents regarding this project. “The Ministry of Agriculture” is implementing those activities and they should have all documents,” said Noniashvili.

Samson Kebadze, the head of the Shida Kartli Regional Department of the Ministry of Agriculture, stated that we could find the project at the office of Davit Mujirishvili, director of “Mtkvari M Ltd”. The latter is the company providing melioration activities and it controls all irrigation channels in the region; they are also involved in water distribution. However, they did not have the project either.

Davit Mujirishvili: “The construction company which is implementing rehabilitation activities on the River Tedzami should have the project. After the company finishes the work, we will take over the irrigation channels; now we have any involvement with the project.

“They are not drying the river; they are just implementing the work that was started during the communist regime. They only rehabilitate the channel. The River Tedzami will be dammed and then distributed in various villages through irrigation channels. As for the river-bed that is cut till the River Mtkvari, we will release sanitary water in it, and this way so the river will not be totally dried up.”

Mujirashvili claims that the water in the old river-bed will be enough. In fact, the amount of water in the river-bed is always low.

The Human Rights Center got in touch with the press-service center of the Ministry of Agriculture. They promised the head of one of the departments will meet our representative though we have not received any notification about the meeting.

The head of Shida Kartli regional department of the Environmental Ministry heard about the issue first from us. The ministry officials stated they do not have right on monitoring. “If local residents do not file complaints to us, we cannot discuss it,” said the officials from the Environmental Ministry.

Officials of the Environmental Inspection have no idea about the project and its implementation.

Kaspi district residents, worried about the upcoming disaster, applied to the “Green Alternative” for help. The organization tried to get hold of the project but in vain.

Irakli Macharashvili, program coordinator of BioDiversity: “The Ministry of Environment does not hold similar project at all; they have not issued permit on it that was necessary. Since we have not seen the project we cannot say what kind of permission it should have. But, in any case, in order to get the permission they should have assessment of environmental impact or conclusion of ecological expertise. It depends on the how massive a scale is the construction. The Ministry of Environment has not issued any of above-mentioned permits. It is quite possible that we are dealing with a crime.”

Nana Janashia, executive director of the Caucasian Environmental Network of NGOs (CENN), repeats the same. “Investor should examine the environmental impact report and society should be involved as well. Various alternatives should also be considered in the dicussions. Afterwards, based on all these analysis the environmental management and monitoring plan will be then be prepared.

The Ministry of Environment is not right when stating that they cannot monitor the on-going works without having received complaints. The aim of the Environmental Inspection is to inspect similar activities and to react in response to possible illegal activities. Moreover, if equipment is already working there, something is to be questioned. However, currently, the inspection service is busy with forest control.

Nana Janashia also stated that this project looks like old communist understanding of the problem because communists used to dry the river beds. Now everybody avoids interfering in the natural environment.

Chichiko Janelidze, expert of the Council for EconomicCompliance: “it is incredible to transform (to dry, to cut a new channel, to create a water reservoir) natural river bed with the length of 15 kilometers without complex environmental assessment of the area. Corresponding specialists should explore the problem and their conclusions should dictate further action.

In addition, tributaries of the river are necessary habitat for the fish for evaluation; because they leave crayons in these territories. Because of this situation no works could be launched without arranging it with the department of biodiversity; it might result in the extinction of several fish species.”

Chichiko Janelidze stated that project initiators should consider the fact that villages located on the embankment of the River Tedzami are directly connected with this river because they use it for irrigation. If there is no river, the population will not be able to produce enough of a crop to harvest.

As for sanitary water, the expert thinks that similar activities cannot be implemented regarding the Tedzami. Generally, the river had sanitary function (it cleans the river banks during flooding) but Tedzami is a small river and if it changes its direction it will completely disappear. Consequently, the river bed will be completely dried up. 

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