September 8, 2022
News
Caritas Czech Republic has been working on the establishment of sustainable waste management practices in Georgia through capacity building and development of waste management infrastructure, including the provision of consultancy services as well as technical assistance to target municipalities. After gaining valuable experience in environmental protection, since September 2022, we are starting a new project for promoting sustainable wastewater management in the Oni Municipality. The initiative is financially supported by SlovakAid and we will work in close partnership with the Slovak development organization Sosna.
Technical Assistance and Capacity Building of Local Stakeholders
Municipal wastewater is the main source of surface water pollution in Georgia, which constitutes environmental and health problems. After working on promoting sustainable waste management practices in Oni municipality and closely partnering with local government, we decided to address local water pollution problems and contribute to the water quality and resources management by supporting the municipality in building wastewater treatment infrastructure.
At the initial stage of the project, Caritas Czech Republic’s project experts will develop a feasibility study, describing different sustainable wastewater treatment solutions in preselected hot spot areas. Afterward, we will pilot the most applicable wastewater treatment technologies – septic water treatment systems, wetlands, bio-toilets, etc. in the project's target territories. Notably, one of the main directions of the project is the provision of technical equipment to the One municipality which means procurement and handover of the assanization vehicle for the management of waste from the local wastewater treatment facilities.
The second part of the project envisages capacity-building of local stakeholders to properly implement wastewater treatment measures. To this end, we will develop a strategy and an action plan on wastewater management and support the representatives of local public administration, self-government and civil society on the implementation of wastewater treatment measures with relevant knowledge.
Ekaterine Meskhrikadze, Caritas Czech Republic’s Deputy Country Director and Project Manager says that there is a direct link between the quality of life and the environment as people's lives are very much affected by the health of their physical environment:
“Pollution of water with sewage, industrial, agricultural or pharmaceutical waste causes environmental and health problems. In Georgia, access to improved sanitation and sufficient treatment of wastewater still remains challenging in rural areas. Within this project, our goal is to strengthen capacity of local stakeholders to better address those challenges and thus, contribute to the improvement of the quality of life and health of the population in the municipality. The project is designed in a way that the developed solutions could be easily replicated to other municipalities of Georgia”.
Environmental Protection is one of the Flagships of our Work
The above-mentioned wastewater management activities are not the only one environmental protection activities, which Caritas Czech Republic implements in rural Georgia. Thanks to the funding from SlovakAid and the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, our organization actively supported the region of Racha in the development of waste management infrastructure. As such, waste recycling models for Oni, Tsageri, and Lentekhi municipalities were developed and acknowledged by the local governments. Moreover, thanks to the funding from SlovakAid, Caritas Czech Republic delivered 60 units of 1 000-liter metal waste bins, 135 units of 240-liter waste bins, and a seven cubic-meter off-road waste separation truck to the Oni municipality.
Notably, Caritas Czech Republic also handed over a waste truck worth 100 000 Euros to the municipality of Dusheti. In addition, our organization developed a waste management plan for the protected areas of Pshav-Khevsureti and incorporated it into the existing Waste Management Action Plan of the Dusheti Municipality. Moreover, in the framework of the EU-funded ENPARD project implemented by Caritas Czech Republic in mountainous Adjara, in February 2021, we handed over a garbage truck to the Khulo municipality.
Did you enjoy reading this article? Read more:
- Caritas Czech Republic Supports Sustainable Waste Management Practices in Georgia
- To Further Support Waste Management, Caritas Czech Republic Joins the EU- and KfW-Financed Project
