Water Laboratory Day in Georgia
European Union Water Initiative Plus (EUWI+) provides laboratory equipment to detect industrial chemicals and pesticides in water
From left to right: Mr. Alexander Zinke (EUWI+ project leader of the EU Member State Consortium), Carl Hartzell (ambassador of the European Union to Georgia), Levan Davitashvili (Minister of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia), Arad Benkö (Ambassador of Austria to Georgia), Andro Aslanishvili (Head of the National Environment Agency of Georgia)
On today’s Water Laboratory Day in Georgia, the national Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture and the European Union celebrate new laboratory capacities in the Eastern Partnership country. Following the recent accreditation of the Ambient Air, Water and Soil Analysis Laboratory of the National Environment Agency, Georgia now conducts state-of-the-art scientific analysis. New water-quality equipment, know-how for it’s application and quality management skills for the ISO certification were provided by the European Union through the EU-funded project “European Union Water Initiative Plus for Eastern Partnership Countries” (EUWI+). The project is led by a European project consortium headed by the Environment Agency Austria.
Advanced protection of water in Georgia and beyond
The new devices enable the National Environment Agency to detect a much wider range of industrial chemicals and pesticides. With this expansion of the laboratory more pollutants can be monitored and subsequently managed with greater precision. The Water Laboratory Day also celebrates the recent accreditation of the laboratory according to the new ISO standard used by testing and calibration laboratories (EN ISO/IEC 17025:2017). Georgia is the first country of the Eastern Partnership to achieve this outstanding result.
During the event, a high-level panel has informed stakeholders and media representatives on recent developments regarding water policy and integrated water management in Georgia. After that, a laboratory visit and opportunities for exchange between representatives and students from the Eastern Partnership Scholarship program in Tbilisi were organised. The students visited the new laboratory facilitates, learned from local experts about environmental analysis of water and rivers systems, and conducted water analyses together with laboratory staff. As the Eastern Partnership Scholarship brings together students from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine, they are both future professionals and ambassadors for sustainable water across the region.
Carl Hartzell, Ambassador of the European Union to Georgia, engages with students from the Eastern Partnership European School at the water laboratory.
About EUWI+
The aim of the transboundary project European Union Water Initiative Plus for the Eastern Partnership is to improve sustainable management of water resources in six countries of the European Eastern Neighborhood Policy. Management plans for river basins and transboundary rivers in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Belarus and Ukraine are being developed and prepared for implementation, based on the requirements of the Water Framework Directive. Experts from European Union member states institutions, together with their partners, are building water monitoring systems on-site which will be tested in model regions. For the consortium French and Austrian experts (mainly from the Environment Agency Austria, the Federal Ministry of Sustainability and Tourism and the Austrian Development Agency) are working on the spot in these countries.
Project funding is provided by the European Commission (DG NEAR), the European Union support programme for improved cooperation in the eastern neighbourhood region and the EU Water Initiative Plus (EUWI+). On a national level, financial support comes from the Austrian Development Agency, the Federal Austrian Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management as well as from the Republic of France.
