BRIEFING NOTE:Towards Improved Rural Sanitation in GeorgiaMaryanne Leblanc (SWAT), Ahmed A. R. Eiweida (Country Sector Coordinator)

SWAT

SWAT Briefing Note 1 / August 2010

The Sanitation, Hygiene and Wastewater Support Service (SWAT) is an Expert Support Team (EST) of the Water Partner-ship Program (WPP). SWAT provides easy-to-use, just-in-time high quality support for sanitation and hygiene at critical junctures in World Bank projects, aiming to contribute towards the Millennium Development Goal Target of halving the fraction without access to sanitation.

SANITATION, HYGIENE AND WASTEWATER SUPPORT SERVICE

Funding for urban infrastructure improve-ment in Georgia

In 2008, the World Bank and the Millennium

Challenge Corporation (MCC)—a U.S.-funded

development agency—entered a new, innova-

tive partnership around the Georgian Municipal

Development Fund (MDF). Through the Interna-

tional Development Association (IDA), the Bank

provided $40 million of the ongoing $65.4 mil-

lion Regional and Municipal Infrastructure De-

velopment Project (RMIDP), and administered

the MCC-funded Regional Infrastructure De-

velopment Project under a Service-for-Fee ar-

rangement. These two projects include the full

or partial rehabilitation of water supply systems

and sewer networks in urban areas.

Other donors that have provided funding for

infrastructure improvement in urban, rural and

IDP areas are the Asian Development Bank

(ADB), the European Bank for Reconstruction

and Development (EBRD), the Swedish Interna-

tional Development Agency (SIDA), the German

Development Bank (KfW), the United Nations

International Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and the

European Union (EU).

Throughout Georgia, inadequate water supply and sanitation poses a potential threat to

human health and the environment. Current efforts aimed at improving those services give

priority to water supply and urban areas, despite the great need for improvements in both

urban and rural sanitation.

In October 2009, the Sanitation, Hygiene and Wastewater Support Service (SWAT) received

a request for support to a large infrastructure improvement project. SWAT suggested a joint

activity with the Hydrology Expert Facility (HEF) to more comprehensively study sanitation

issues in Georgia. While HEF would look at areas with sewerage networks—generally the

more urbanized areas, SWAT would assess the sanitary situation in small towns, villages, and

rural areas without sewerage networks.

SWAT found that rural sanitation has been neglected and that many sanitation technologies

are not well known in Georgia. To increase attention to rural sanitation, SWAT formulated a

roadmap for future rural sanitation investments with short, medium and long term recom-

mendations. SWAT and HEF work will contribute to the design of an overall Wastewater

Management Strategy for Georgia, and has already improved wastewater treatment tech-

niques.

In response to the renewed attention to rural sanitation in Georgia, the international donor

community has increased investments in this sector. To build on the momentum and define

the approach towards substantial sanitation investments, a workshop involving the govern-

ment of Georgia (GoG), donors, and stakeholders is planned in Tbilisi for late 2010. Recog-

nition of the importance of the rural sanitation sector by the GoG is crucial to ensure that the

international donor community will continue to engage in this sector.

Georgia and Sanitation

Georgia, with a population of about 4.4 mil-

lion, is bounded to the west by the Black

Sea and to the east by Azerbaijan. Geor-

gia’s topography, hydrogeology, climate, and

population density vary considerably across

the country. A relatively populous, temperate

central valley is surrounded by sparsely pop-

ulated mountains that can be inaccessible

for months during the winter. Georgia’s nine

administrative regions are divided into 69

Pit latrine in Dmanisi (Photo: SWAT)

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municipalities; most municipalities cover

large areas and include small cities, towns,

villages, and rural areas. About 32,000 of

the estimated 129,000 people displaced

after the August 2008 armed conflict with

Russia over South Ossetia still live in Inter-

nally Displaced Persons (IDP) settlements

(USAID, 2008).

Access to improved sanitation is lower in

rural than in urban areas, and infant mortal-

ity in the former is higher. According to the

Joint Monitoring Program (WHO/UNICEF,

2010), 4 percent of Georgia’s urban popu-

lation and 7 percent of its rural population

did not have access to improved sanitation

as of 2008. However, in many places, the

rate of access to improved sanitation is

likely to be lower than suggested by the

data.

Bringing in the SWAT Team

Based on a request from the GoG, the

Bank’s Task Team Leader (TTL) for the

RMIDP asked SWAT to specify a range of

“package” wastewater treatment plants for

small towns in Georgia. SWAT noted that

package plants are not necessarily the most

cost-effective or viable option, and that the

type and extent of wastewater treatment

required varies with local conditions (popu-

lation, density, hydrogeology, climate, etc.).

In agreement with the GoG, SWAT sug-

gested a joint mission with HEF—likewise

an EST funded by the WPP—to more com-

prehensively examine the overall sanitation

and wastewater management issues in

Georgia. HEF would address wastewater

treatment options for secondary cities and

towns with sewerage networks, mostly in

urban settings, while the SWAT support

would focus on sanitation in small towns,

villages, and IDPs settlements, i.e. in rural settings without sewerage networks.

Rural Sanitation is Neglected

Rural sanitation in Georgia currently re-

ceives little attention and few resources:

virtually no efforts to increase access to

hygienic sanitation in rural areas, villages,

and small towns are underway or planned,

except in IDP settlements. Further ham-

pering progress are the unclear roles and

responsibilities of the agencies involved in

rural water supply and sanitation. More-

over, there are gaps and conflicts in the

roles and responsibilities of the agen-

cies and in the institutional and regulatory

frameworks.

The majority of households in rural areas,

villages, and small towns—and in urban or

peri-urban areas without functioning sew-

erage—use simple pit latrines that they

finance and maintain themselves. While

the latter can provide hygienic sanitation,

these latrines are often not well built or

maintained in Georgia. Moreover, there is

no provision for hygienic disposal of fecal

sludge emptied from the latrines. Hence,

simple pit latrines often still pose a threat

to health and the environment.

In Georgia, the technologies currently

available for rural sanitation are very lim-

ited. Proposed national sanitation policies

recommend extending sewerage networks

to cover the entire population of Georgia,

even in rural areas. However, for most rural

and semi-urban households, on-site sani-

tation options such as improved latrines

are likely to be more cost-effective, more

easily available, and much less expensive

than sewerage systems. Unfortunately,

very few people—even government techni-

cians and water company staff—are aware

of sanitation options other than simple pit

latrines or conventional sewerage.

Lessons learned from the SWAT support on rural sanitation in Georgia:

As the SWAT activity progressed, it became evident that technical solutions alone would not ensure sustainable sanitation improvements. An enabling environment, including comprehensive and coherent cross-sectoral plans, policies, and frameworks, is also needed to scale up improvements.

The SWAT activity highlighted the cross-sectoral nature of sanitation. Ministries and agencies involved in health, the environment, infrastructure, and finances must all play a role in the design and implementation of sanitation projects. Furthermore, water supply must be taken into account when targeting sanitation (and vice versa); and rural sanitation must be improved along with urban sanitation if the environment and human health are to be protected.

Expert Support Teams such as SWAT and HEF can add considerable value to Bank projects in countries such as Georgia, where aspirations for water supply and sanitation services are high, but where local agencies and authorities are hampered by weak institutions, lack of experienced, trained personnel and lack of other (financial and material) resources.

2 / WWW.WORLDBANK.ORG/SWAT

Rural Sanitation can be Improved

SWAT recommended that the GoG, with

the support of the international community,

lay the groundwork for substantial invest-

ments in rural sanitation and hygiene. The

general approach is to be developed col-

laboratively at a workshop to be held in

Tbilisi in late 2010. The workshop would

include stakeholders at all levels and from

all sectors, including community leaders,

and would consider several recommenda-

tions, of which the most important are de-

scribed below.

In the short term, a proposed pilot project

would test and assess improved on-site

sanitation technologies and approaches

in selected municipalities. The pilot experi-

ences would serve as the basis for future

rural sanitation programs, plans, policies,

strategies, and for institutional and finan-

cial frameworks. Key elements of the pilot

project (with estimated costs ranging from

$1.2 to $2 million) should include the fol-

lowing:

Collection and analysis of data on

consumers’ ability and willingness to

pay for sanitation, on hygiene prac-

tices, and on other factors that affect

environmental health;

An assessment of (i) proposals for

strengthening stakeholders’ capaci-

ties and collaboration, with an empha-

sis on community participation; and

(ii) appropriate improved sanitation

technologies and approaches (such

as the double-pit or EcoSan latrines),

sanitation marketing tools, and public-

private partnerships;

A clear strategy for disseminating les-

sons learned in regard to rural sanita-

tion; and

Adequate water supply and sanitation

in IDP settlements and neighboring

communities.

In the medium term, the SWAT team rec-

ommends the following:

Municipalities should have the author-

ity, resources and technical capacity to

support improvements to rural sanita-

tion;

A sewerage system should only be

extended or constructed if it has been

shown to be the most cost-effective

solution for hygienic excreta disposal

in that area; and

Solutions such as waste stabilization

ponds and constructed wetlands are

in principle preferable to “package”

wastewater treatment or conventional

wastewater treatment plants.

In the longer term, SWAT recommends that

the GoG, with the support of international

agencies, including the World Bank, under-

take the following initiatives:

Implement mechanisms to improve

collaboration among stakeholders and

strengthen the capacities of the agen-

cies and/or organizations involved in

rural water supply and sanitation;

Implement plans, strategies and poli-

cies as well as comprehensive institu-

tional, financial, and legal frameworks

for water supply and sanitation, espe-

cially for the rural areas;

Support community-led rural sanita-

tion improvement interventions that

are in line with the national strategy

to ensure the sustainability of these

improvements; and

Actively promote private sector partici-

pation in rural water supply and sani-

tation.

Kick-starting a Discussion on Rural Sanitation in Georgia

Georgia had previously focused on sanita-

tion and other infrastructure investments in

urban areas. The SWAT support initiated an

important shift towards a more integrated

approach to water and sanitation issues, in

rural as well as urban areas. The work on

rural areas nudged the Municipal Service

Providers Association (MSPA) to request

support for improving rural sanitation, and

led the international donor community to

TOWARDS IMPROVED RURAL SANITATION IN GEORGIA / 3

A settlement for Internally Displaced People (IDPs) in Shavshvebi, Georgia, showing rows of latrines amidst

the newly contructed houses. (Photo: SWAT)

TOWARDS IMPROVED RURAL SANITATION IN GEORGIA / 4

The Water Partnership Program (WPP) is a $20 million program funded by the Netherlands, Denmark and the United

Kingdom. The WPP aims to enhance the World Bank’s performance on reducing poverty through the mainstreaming

of pragmatic approaches for Water Resources Management and development, and the improvement of quality and ef-

fectiveness of Water Service Delivery. The WPP supports activities–in all World Bank Borrowing Member Countries and

across all water sub-sectors–through nine Windows: six Regional Windows managed by the Bank’s Regional water units,

a Global Window, a World Bank Institute Window, and the EST Window, consisting of three EST sub-windows.

The WPP is coordinated by a Program Management Team based in the Water Anchor Unit of the Department of Energy,

Transport, and Water of the World Bank.

increase their investments. The United

States Agency for International Develop-

ment (USAID), for example, is currently

preparing a $60 million project for munici-

pal and IDP settlement infrastructure.

Building on this initial success, SWAT is

proposing a collaborative workshop involv-

ing the GoG, donors, and stakeholders,

to be held in Tbilisi. The objective of this

workshop is to develop a concrete action

plan and strategy to fast-track rural sani-

tation investments. SWAT hopes that the

GoG’s recognition of the importance of the

rural sanitation sector will prompt the inter-

national donor community to engage more

widely in the sanitation sector. A number of

donors have already shown interest in co-

sponsoring the workshop.

The main results of SWAT support are

summarized below:

SWAT and HEF recommendations

have already led to improvements in

the design of pit latrines for IDPs and

wastewater treatment techniques for

small towns and (semi-)urban areas

under the RMIDP in Georgia;

SWAT and HEF work will contribute

to the design of an overall Wastewater

Management Strategy for Georgia;

A consultation workshop was already

held to present results to various

stakeholders and government agen-

cies. A larger scale workshop, bring-

ing together all domestic stakeholders

and international donors, is planned

for late 2010. This workshop will de-

velop a strategy for substantial rural

sanitation investments.

Several donors are including alloca-

tions for sanitation in their new proj-

ects (e.g. the World Bank—preparing

$45 million in additional financing,

USAID, the EU, and SIDA/UNICEF).

This shows that the international do-

nor community is already acting on

the GoG’s expected shift in priorities

towards rural water and sanitation.

As a result of SWAT support, several donors (for example the World Bank, USAID, the EU, and SIDA/UNICEF) are including allocations for sanitation in their new projects.

References

Department of Statistics - Ministry of Economic

Development of Georgia (2009), Statistical Year-

book of Georgia: 2009, Ministry of Economic De-

velopment, 322 p.

Georgia Municipal Development Fund website

(http://www.mdf.ge/eng/index.php - accessed on

8/27/10).

L. Sakvarelidze National Center for Disease Con-

trol and Public Health, Ministry of Labour, Health

and Social Affairs of Georgia (2008), Health Care

in Georgia compared with the European region

countries, 2008.

Leblanc, M. (2010). Improving Rural Sanitation in

Georgia, A SWAT consultancy report. World Bank,

unpublished.

Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastruc-

ture (2009), Overview of Water and Waste Water

Sector of Georgia, PowerPoint presentation, Sep-

tember, 2009.

OECD (2009), Financing Strategy for Urban and

Rural Water Supply and Sanitation in Georgia,

OECD, 189 pp.

USAID (2008), Georgia – Complex Emergency,

Fact Sheet #9, August 22, 2008.

WHO/UNICEF (2010). Joint Monitoring Pro-

gramme for Water Supply and Sanitation - Esti-

mates for the use of Improved Sanitation Facilities

- Updated March 2010 - Georgia.

Wikipedia, Georgia site (http://en.wikipedia.

org/wiki/Georgia_(country) - accessed on

8/19/2010).