EU funds new water monitoring stations in Adjara region

Georgia’s western seaside Adjara region is enjoying the benefits of six automated monitoring stations that are helping the region meet European environmental and water standards in a €55,000 (145,000 GEL) project funded by the European Union (EU). 

The Environmental Protection of International Rivers Basins (EPIRB) project officially launched on Friday, September 4 – the same day the six new monitoring stations began operating. The stations aimed to carry out hydrological monitoring.

The pilot project envisaged installing six fully automated hydrological monitoring stations in the Chorokhi-Adjaristskali Basin, two of which are located in the upper Adjaristskali River that leads to Keda and Shuakhevi towns. The facilities will measure water and rain levels, necessary to forecast potential flood risk assessments, noted a press release by the EU.

On Friday officials gathered in the coastal city of Batumi to celebrating the opening and handing over of the stations from the EU to the local government.

The project was implemented within the EU River Basin Management Plan (RBMP) development process and aimed to assist the Ministry of Environment Protection and Natural Resources and other Georgian environmental agencies to strengthen their capacity for data collection, analysis and processing in the Chorokhi-Adjaristskali Basin district of Georgia.

The EPIRB project is an EU-funded project managed by the European Commission and implemented by a consortium led by Austrian consulting firm Human Dynamics. 

The project focussed on the wider Black Sea region and aimed to support the beneficiary countries of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.