Davit Songulashvili: Protecting Water Quality and Preventing Pollution Is Our Top Priority

The Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture, Davit Songulashvili, attended the Water Future International Forum and participated in a panel discussion held within its framework.

The forum is organized in Tbilisi by the Spanish water management company Aqualia and the Georgian water supply company Georgian Water and Power (GWP). The event is attended by Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze and other representatives of the government.

During the discussion, the Minister focused primarily on ongoing reforms in the field of water resource management and on the implementation of the Law on Water Resources Management adopted in 2023. Davit Songulashvili emphasized the transition to the river basin management principle, the protection of water quality, and the efficient and fair distribution of water resources.

“In 2023, Parliament adopted the Law on Water Resources Management, which enters into force on September 1 this year. This represents a fundamentally important change. Strategic decisions have been made, meaning that we are transitioning to a river basin management principle, which involves combining surface and groundwater resources into a unified balance and distributing that balance accordingly.

It should also be noted that water resources are replenished by wastewater flows, and we are actively strengthening the monitoring system to ensure the most accurate assessment of the resources available to the country within each basin system. The proper allocation of these resources is crucial.

An important part of the law concerns water quality protection and pollution prevention. In coordination with the Ministry of Infrastructure, we are working to establish wastewater treatment facilities in virtually all municipalities. Additionally, a new structural unit will be created within our Ministry this year to develop precise water balance assessments and manage resource allocation,” stated Davit Songulashvili.

The Minister also highlighted the issue of plastic pollution and referred to research findings.

“One of the major challenges is plastic pollution. According to World Bank research, 88% of pollution in the Rioni River basin is attributed to plastic. In this direction, we are implementing an important reform aimed at restricting plastic use, which serves as a preventive measure to improve water quality.

The law also clearly prioritizes drinking water, followed by irrigation and other economic activities. Regarding irrigation, we have a major project with the World Bank aimed at improving melioration systems to ensure more efficient use of water resources,” Davit Songulashvili noted.