The FINANCIAL — More than 1,000 litres of water is supplied to each resident of Tbilisi every day. Most of the water supplied is misused, literally poured down the sink, while the individual European uses on average 150 litres daily. These are the statistics provided by Joerg Matthies, CEO of Georgian Water and Power, talking with The FINANCIAL recently.
“There are big losses in the networks belonging to the population. The reason is damaged cisterns and taps. They cause significant damage to the company as much labour and material resources are spent on water treatment and delivery to the customer. It also creates problems for normal operation of the water supply system.
The resources from which water is produced are not inexhaustible. It is necessary to save those resources for the sake of our future welfare. In most cases the residents of Tbilisi do not use this product efficiently and instead they waste it.
Drinking water is similar to bread, sugar or any other product, and what is more, water is an essential product.
Effective use of water may be regulated only by metering. It is an approved method and a culture of rational use of drinking water in all countries is based on a metering system. Just taking into consideration international experience, Georgian Water and Power started the metering process in June and in the first stage is installing meters in private houses.
Currently Georgian Water and Power is carrying out intensive rehabilitation works in 28 streets simultaneously. The company has already completed the works and entirely replaced the network in 22 streets. Water supply of Tbilisi’s population will be more stable now, water losses and number of faults in the water supply system will also significantly decrease,” Joerg Matthies told The FINANCIAL.
Q. One of the responsibilities of GWP is infrastructure modification, rehabilitation and modernization of objects and networks. Which facilities and networks have been modernized and rehabilitated recently?
A. The company is carrying out reconstruction and rehabilitation of water supply and sewage systems according to the programme broken down by years. Substantial works have been carried out in the facilities of Aragvi Gorge, including: the Natakhtari unique siphon separation chamber, pumping stations, reservoirs, aqueducts, pipe canals and tunnels. Substantial reconstruction works have been carried out in the Zhinvali hydraulic complex as well. We have purchased special new equipment. Georgian Water and Power and its sister companies are planning to invest a minimum of 220 million USD in rehabilitation and improvement of the infrastructure by 2018.
We are carrying out intensive rehabilitation works at present. It is a large scale project under the name of Rehabilitation of the Backbone and Central Water Supply and Sewage Systems of Tbilisi Streets. The project includes 50 of the capital’s streets in the current year. Rehabilitation works in this direction started in July and will be completed by the end of November. All the water supply and sewage networks for these 50 streets will be rehabilitated, the total length of which makes up 45 km.
At the same time Georgian Water and Power has already completed one entire renovation – rehabilitation of the underground communications of water supply and the sewage network in David Agmashenebeli Avenue and adjacent streets. Total length of the rehabilitated network made up 6,700 meters.
As a result of the rehabilitation of facilities and networks, water supply of Tbilisi’s population will be more stable, water losses and number of faults in the water supply system will decrease significantly which will favour uninterrupted water supply of the capital to a considerable degree.
Q. There are still sections in Tbilisi which receive water according to a schedule. Why is this?
A. At present most of Tbilisi (87.3%) has uninterrupted water supply. Georgian Water and Power is doing its best to eliminate the schedule for the sections of the city which still receive water according to a schedule.
We have undertaken the responsibility to provide uninterrupted water supply to Tbilisi and as we have mentioned above, we have developed a rehabilitation programme broken down by years which we are implementing stage by stage. Comprehensive rehabilitation works and implementation of an individual metering programme will enable the company to provide uninterrupted water supply to Tbilisi. Starting from January 2011 up to present the schedule has been eliminated for 132,000 residents of Tbilisi in different sections, including Vazha-Pshavela, Varketili 3, Varketili upper plateau and Zgvis Ubani.
In compliance with the assumed commitments uninterrupted water supply of the capital within old administrative borders will be implemented by 2013, as for the new administrative borders of Tbilisi, uninterrupted water supply will be provided by 2015.
Q. How safe is the tap water which Tbilisi’s population drinks and how do you carry out water quality control? What measures does the company take to toughen up water quality control?
A. The quality of drinking water in the capital completely satisfies WHO recommendations as well as national health standards. It is quite safe to use tap water. All labs of Georgian Water and Power are working uninterruptedly. The labs are located at all head works of Aragvi Gorge and in Tbilisi. The central chemical and microbiological lab of the company supervises all the other four labs. We have just completed modernization of the central lab. The company has invested 1.5 million GEL for this purpose. Up-to-date European equipment and auxiliaries installed at the lab will enable the company to control water quality on a level with the highest standards. The central lab, which is equipped with new equipment, will enable us to more effectively monitor water quality and carry out all operations necessary for providing its control. At the same time the central lab is preparing for accreditation in compliance with ISO 17025 standards.
Among the newly purchased equipment the most important is the GS-MS gas chromatograph with maspectrum. This device defines levels of organic compounds – oil products, highly inflammable substances and pesticides and it also detects small impurities; ICP-OES emission – plasma spectrophotometer can test 33 elements simultaneously. The specialists of the lab use this device for defining sanitary – toxic indicators, alkali, alkali soil and strictly limited heavy metals; with the help of the new ionic chromatograph they study anions in the water, which determine taste of the water. And surface active substances and cyanides are determined by the Spectrophotometer Spekol 1500.
As a rule Georgian Water and Power is testing quality of water for chemical, as well as microbiological parameters. According to the tests all parameters in the drinking water are below maximum allowable concentration. The company’s specialists are testing water quality uninterruptedly round-the-clock. They control water quality in Tbilisi water supply networks as well.
Q. You have a poll on your website, where the question is: “Would you like water meters to be installed?” The majority of people said No – 69.1%, then Yes – 26.7% and I Don’t Know – 4.1%. What is the reason why people don’t want water meters installed? And how can you explain to them the necessity of installing water meters?
A. The result is not bad when approximately 30% of Tbilisi’s residents support metering. And we would like to tell the opponents to metering that they haven’t thought about how profitable it would be for their families to install meters.
When a customer is metered, he/she tries to use water effectively and save the family budget as well as drinking water. Correspondingly the customer pays according to their consumption. At the same time he/she brings all taps in the property into order. I can tell you for certain that individual metering will have a positive impact on the budget of each family in Tbilisi. The residential tariff for water supply and sewage per 1 cubic meter, i.e. 1 ton of water, is 26.6 Tetri. For example, a four-member family with the fixed fee must pay 12.6 GEL every month, while after meter installation, if the family uses water effectively, let’s say 150 l/per capita daily, as in many European countries, they will have to pay about 5 GEL per month instead of 12.6 GEL. Five-six member families can save even more money. And when a customer is out of the city, he/she will not be charged for water at all. And not to forget another important benefit of metering – the uninterrupted water supply of Tbilisi.
Q. Who pays the cost of the meter’s purchase and installation, the company or customer?
A. In compliance with GNERC resolution 18 as of 2010, the maximum cost of metering is 100 GEL. The customer must pay the cost, as those expenses are not reflected in the water supply tariff. The actual metering cost exceeds 100 GEL, which is covered by the company. This amount is not reflected in the tariff either. The company itself will pay for meters in the first stage and the customer will start paying back the 100 GEL six months after the meter’s installation. In addition the amount will be distributed over 24 months.
Q. When will the installation of water meters be completed and how many water meters will be installed in total?
A. Water meter installation for residents of Tbilisi is a long term and complicated process which must be completed by the end of 2015. 15 days prior to the start of specific works, Georgian Water and Power sends a notification to each customer. The company informs customers about the starting and completion times of installation works and times when water will be disconnected as well. Meter installation in private houses of different districts of Tbilisi is being carried out intensively at the moment. The contracting companies of Georgian Water and Power are installing meters and the monitoring group of the company is supervising the working process. At this stage the company has already installed 20,000 meters.
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