Shaping a new water law for Georgia

Making the best use of the knowledge and experience in a country leads to more trusted decision-making. In the face of outdated legislation that blocked improvements to Georgia’s water supply and infrastructure, GWP’s Country Water Partnership in Georgia is helping to guide the legislative process leading to a new water law. GWP Georgia tapped into its expert knowledge network and ensured broad public participation to move the country towards adopting a river basin approach to water management. 

The Context 

Political ambition can drive advances in water management. Georgia has been moving closer politically to the European Union (EU) for some years, gradually reviewing its governance processes with an eye to aligning them with those in the EU. In 2021, Georgia announced it would apply for EU membership in 2024, with its commitment to integrated water resources management (IWRM) backed by years of experience in developing relevant legal frameworks. 

The EU’s Water Framework Directive of 2000 commits EU member states to achieve good qualitative and quantitative status of all water bodies. It provides guidance for national legislation that expands the scope of water protection to all surface water and groundwater, sets standards and indicators for water quality and pollution, applies economic measures to valuing water, strengthens citizens’ participation, and streamlines legislation that is based on the integrated management of Europe’s shared transboundary river basins. 

Georgia’s water legislation was last updated in 1997. Today it is clearly outdated: it is inconsistent, contradictory, and fragmented, and pays little attention to some of the best practices in water management, such as including the use of economic instruments to align private and general interests; clear allocation of responsibilities between central and local governments; and monitoring and evaluating the condition of water bodies. The law’s regulations could not foresee the need to expand irrigated land for the country’s important agriculture sector, nor were they adequate to rehabilitate and extend access to clean drinking water. 

Taking note of the EU Water Framework Directive, the Government of Georgia in 2011 began a process of drafting a new water law. Aware of the technical and organisational challenges of the framework’s implementation, the government turned to GWP Georgia for advice. 

📢 Shaping a new water law for Georgia - George Dzamukashvili

A new law for new water challenges 

The National Water Policy Dialogue group set out to work on the new law in 2011. Georgia was committed to ensuring that the new law established a framework for community action in water policy, including assessment and management of the country’s increasing flood risk and urban wastewater treatment, and protecting water against pollution caused by nitrates from agricultural sources. This broad range of issues was discussed by engineers, farming specialists, and public health experts. From convening meetings to drafting agendas to engaging in advocacy, GWP Georgia ensured that competent authorities were engaged, and deadlines met. Progress sometimes slowed when stakeholder representatives changed jobs and their replacements needed briefing. 

 10 years of international collaboration 

Georgian lawyers, having worked with the EU on redrafting environmental law, helped, and legal experts were brought in from Estonia to ensure the document’s appropriate structure and correct terminology. They had to distinguish provisions of the EU Water Framework that were highly relevant to Georgia from those that were not. 

In 2012 the National Water Policy Dialogue Steering Committee approved the concept of the new law and in 2013 a first draft was completed for review by stakeholders. The draft took the upcoming Sustainable Development Goals (adopted in 2015) into consideration through convening a national round table by GWP Georgia and UNECE. Following these consultations and many public meetings in 2014 and 2015, government officials made comments in 2016. In 2017, regulatory impact assessments and harmonisation with the country’s Environmental Assessment Code were the focus of activities. In 2020, conscious of all the changes incorporated over the past 10 years, GWP Georgia produced a detailed review of the new law’s provisions, checking it against EU requirements: all was in order 

As this long process shows, drafting legislation and changing policy takes time and patience. Once adopted, the draft law will still require complementary acts or other pieces of legislation to address all obligations within EU mandates, but the stage is set to improve water resources management and ensure sustainable water use, reduce water resource pollution, and improve water quality and quantity monitoring. Georgia now has a knowledgeable and collaboratively minded set of negotiators to complete the work. 

The new law prepares Georgia for the 21st-century management of its water resources, including alignment with the global Sustainable Development Goals. It provides an institutional framework that includes cross-sectoral, ministerial, and local oversight, water quantity and quality monitoring according to EU standards, permits for water abstraction and wastewater discharge, and participatory decision-making. Strategies and by-laws to support the IWRM approach include provisions for flood risk planning and management, fees for abstraction and discharge, pre-treatment of wastewater, and methods to calculate how much water to leave for the natural processes that will provide water for the future. 

What is a GWP Story of Change? 

GWP’s activities are implemented to influence stakeholders who are instrumental in fostering improvements in water governance. Our stories of change are our vehicle to illustrate how we play a role in strengthening the management of water resources.