The new Water Law in Georgia will enter into force in September 2027, laying the foundation for harmonizing the country’s water policy with international and EU best practices. The execution of the draft law directly depends on the technical regulations that must be operational by September 2027 and must also align with international standards. The new law covers:
- Drinking water quality
- Wastewater management
- State accounting of water resources
The new Water Law encompasses multiple standards and methodologies that serve as the basis for formulating and verifying water quality and accounting procedures. They ensure measurement accuracy, hygienic and functional safety of equipment, and data reliability.
The objective of this technical review series is to demonstrate, using the German example, how ISO, EN, DIN, OIML, and other recognized standards can be integrated into Georgia's technical regulations. This ensures regulations are practical, verifiable, and aligned with EU approaches, which aim to establish quality standards and ensure efficient spending of the state budget.
Recommended Standards Framework for the Water Sector:
Recommended standards for regulating the water sector are divided into six functional groups. This classification helps regulators and procurement entities link each requirement to a specific risk: hygienic safety, legal metrology, environmental monitoring, reliability of laboratory results, industrial safety, or organizational management:
- Group A: Drinking Water Safety — TrinkwV, KTW, DVGW W270
- Group B: Commercial Accounting — MID, OIML R49, ISO 4064
- Group C: Environmental Monitoring — MCERTS, UBA, TÜV, WMO
- Group D: Laboratory Quality — ISO 17025
- Group E: Industrial Safety — SIL, IEC 61508, ATEX
- Group F: Management Systems — ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 45001
Procurement and regulatory bodies must normalize the requirements and application of compliance documents/certificates across each domain on a national scale. This will prevent the use of products in water resource management that fail to meet quality standards normalized and harmonized in developed countries, thereby ensuring high quality and preventing the waste of finances, resources, and time.
Key Acronyms Used in Water Sector Regulation:
| Acronym | Meaning | Regulatory Relevance |
| MID | Measuring Instruments Directive | Legal metrology |
| OIML R49 | Water meter standard | Accuracy |
| DVGW | German Technical and Scientific Association for Gas and Water | Drinking water safety |
| ISO 17025 | Competence of testing and calibration laboratories | Reliable measurements |
| SIL | Safety Integrity Level / Functional safety | High-risk facilities |
| PTB | National Metrology Institute (Germany) | Type approval & legal metrology |
| WELMEC | European Cooperation in Legal Metrology | European MID harmonization |
| UBA | Federal Environment Agency (Germany) | Environmental standards & compliance |
| TÜV | Technical Inspection Association | Safety & quality certification |
| MCERTS | Monitoring Certification Scheme (UK) | Environmental equipment verification |
| WMO | World Meteorological Organization | Global hydrometeorological standards |
| LAWA | German Working Group on water issues | Water management guidelines |
| ATEX | Explosive Atmospheres Directive | Explosive atmosphere safety compliance |
