Georgian Government enacts new regulation on underground freshwater well registration from 1 September

A comprehensive regulatory framework governing the state registration of fresh drinking groundwater wells came into force on 1 September. The initiative was spearheaded by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture in coordination with the National Environmental Agency.

Approved under Government Decree No. 424, the new rules establish clear procedural standards for registering all fresh groundwater wells nationwide.

The decree serves as a key secondary normative act designed to enforce Georgia’s Law on Water Resources Management. The primary objective of the regulation is the systematic collection of data necessary for the sustainable stewardship of fresh drinking groundwater resources and the creation of a centralised information repository.

Enacting these rules marks a pivotal step toward protecting and sustainably managing the country’s fresh groundwater reserves.

Data collected under the new system will enable authorities to monitor both the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of water bodies, evaluate their current ecological state, and formulate targeted conservation guidelines.

Under the decree, the Department of Geology within the National Environmental Agency will register all wells. Information gathered through the registration drive will populate a newly created hydrogeological database, which will be updated regularly.