The Georgian seaside town of Poti is sometimes described as a “Little Paris” because of its quaint, low-rise profile and the well-proportioned layout of its streets. But during a recent visit, the stench of raw sewage hung in the air, making it nearly unbearable to stay in the town center.

Despite infrastructure improvements in Poti, sewage still occasionally flows along sidewalks and into open drains on some streets. Footage taken by the local media outlet Tspress in 2019 shows fecal matter flowing through wide channels into the Rioni River, which then carries it directly into the Black Sea.

Conditions in Poti are no exception; in many cities and towns across Georgia, wastewater from outdated sewage systems is not treated and flows directly into rivers, eventually reaching the sea. Even so, Georgia ranks as the top country in the Caucasus and Central Asia in terms of wastewater treatment: UN data shows that the country treats about 48 percent of its household sewage; Azerbaijan treats roughly 41 percent and Armenia less that 1 percent.

According to a sustainable development goal established by the UN, Georgia, with a score of 44, ranks in the bottom third of countries in terms of integrated water resources management.

Industrial waste is also a major problem. According to National Environmental Agency data from 2018-2021, the main pollutant in Georgian rivers is ammonium nitrogen (NH4-N). In 2021, ammonium nitrogen exceeded safe levels at over one-third of monitoring points. Between 2018 and 2021, excessive levels were recorded at all observation points along the Rioni River and most rivers in the Rioni Basin, as well as in the Enguri and Khobi river basins. Heavy metals are additionally found in high levels in the Kvirila, Mashavera, and Kazretula rivers. Many enterprises have not yet implemented modern filtration systems, inhibiting proper wastewater treatment.

Among the major industrial sources of pollution of Georgia’s surface waters are the Kazreti copper and gold enrichment plants, the Chiatura manganese deposits, the manganese enrichment plant, and the Tkibuli coal deposits, all of which contaminate water with heavy metals and hazardous particles.

Chiatura is the hometown of 64-year-old Marina Sadunishvili, who has spent her entire life in the town. She said she has not seen the Kvirila River’s natural color since the city began processing manganese. During the Soviet era, Marina worked at a factory that washed manganese.

“When the manganese was washed, we would trap the sludge and transport it from one place to another,” she said. Amid the Soviet collapse, the plant shut down and the facility decayed. “Now the sludge flows directly into the river,” Sadunishvili added.

Georgian Manganese did not respond to queries regarding environmental conditions at the former plant and efforts to clean up the Kvirila River.

Environmentalist Kakha Guchmanidze said in an interview that conditions are relatively better in Tbilisi and Batumi, where sewage systems are more efficient, and there are treatment plants, including drainage pumping stations and collectors. He added that malfunctions are a recurring issue.

“Where sewage systems have been rehabilitated, in many cases, we are dealing with technical process malfunctions. For example, the Batumi treatment plant emits harmful gases into the surrounding air and produces a strong odor. This is due to various factors, including the inability to capture the generated gases through the appropriate technological cycle and neutralize them,” Guchmanidze said.

Tbilisi is served by the Gardabani Urban Wastewater Treatment Plant. However, National Environmental Agency monitoring data reveals that ammonium nitrogen levels exceeded acceptable limits in the Mtkvari River at the Zahesi, Vakhushti Bridge, and Metekhi Bridge intersections, indicating that wastewater is bypassing the collector and being discharged untreated.

Many villages across Georgia lack sewage systems. As a result, water polluted with nitrogen and various harmful materials ends up in rivers. In some villages, cesspools are used. 

The process of building wastewater infrastructure is ongoing, but progress is slow. As of 2021, nine urban wastewater treatment plants were operating in Georgia: that same year, 76.2 million cubic meters of polluted water entered Georgia's surface waters, about 96 percent of which was generated by the domestic sector. By 2023, 1.98 million people, or just over half the country’s population, were connected to the sewage system, a roughly 1 percent increase over 2021’s total.

Poti is representative of the infrastructure challenges. In 2016, an Azerbaijani company, Azeragrartikinti, began a $37 million project to build out Poti’s sewage system and construct a treatment plant. But poor performance led to the contract’s termination. Two new tenders, worth 135 million GEL (about $48 million), were awarded to Dutch, German, and Italian firms, but a 2020 deadline remains unmet.

As Poti residents tell it, the construction of sewage networks on many streets was completed a year ago, but these channels have not yet been integrated into a unified system and, therefore, remain non-functional. City officials did not respond to queries about the delays.

“The sewage network is still [only] in the [town center] buildings, and it’s old – built during the Soviet era. It hasn’t been connected to the [outlying] streets,” one resident said, declining to provide his name. “We have a concrete well, and we call a truck once or twice a year to pump out the sewage, but I don’t know where they take it.”