Welcome to the Caucasus Hope Partnership website. Just as we are still in the formative stages as an organization, so too is our website in its formative stage. If you are even the least bit curious about us or interested in how you can be a part, then please don't hesitate to register for access to some of the behind the scenes portions of the website!
Ultimately, we desire that this will become a hub of activity and information that brings blessing and hope to the people of the Caucasus. Our initial focus is upon the Kists of the Pankisi Gorge, but we know that it would be too small a thing to limit our aspirations just to those wonderful people. Perhaps you have a desire to help us or perhaps you would like to do a similar work amongst another people group in the Caucasus Mountains. Please
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and share your ideas.
On August 11th, 2010, the CHP sent a three-member team to the Pankisi Gorge in northeastern Georgia to assess the quality of the water supply available to the residents. The team - consisting of a field staff member, a field intern, and a native Georgian interpreter - based themselves out of Birkiani, at the northern end of the Gorge, and enlisted the assistance of local residents for housing, expertise on locating water sources, and as guides in traveling to the sources selected for assessment.
Throughout the following week, samples were collected from 33 different sources throughout the Gorge, including more than a dozen mountain spring sources, as well as samples from the wells or wellheads supplying each village (or part of a village) in Pankisi, for comparison with samples taken from home tap water within each respective village. This work afforded unique opportunities for engaging a wide variety of Pankisi residents, as nearly all of them were interested in our project - with many asking about any results we had received so far - and, in particular, about the quality of the water coming to their home or from their own particular well. Hospitality was in abundance in every home, and it was very rewarding to begin to offer information and knowledge that may help individuals, and the broader community, identify solutions that would work well in improving the water quality - and, as an added benefit, the overall quality of life - in the Pankisi Gorge.
Testing revealed that, while the majority of the water sources sampled had very low turbidity (often less than 2 NTU; the World Health Organization turbidity standard for drinking water is 5 NTU or less), all of the sources sampled had fecal coliform bacteria present in the water, with most having E.coli bacteria present as well. This was a striking result, as our testing included water samples from the recently completed, chlorinated water wells constructed by the U.S. Department of Defense, which would presumably have no bacteria present.
Further testing may prove advantageous not from a scientific perspective - as there is little question remaining about the water quality in Pankisi - but rather in establishing broader and deeper relationships within the villages of Pankisi, where dissemination of information regarding water quality is essential to empowering the community to think about potential solutions that are both implementable and sustainable. Widespread knowledge about Pankisi's water quality may also assist in identifying potential health problems that the community may currently face, as well as assessing how improved water quality could help reduce or eliminate any such problems. This secondary assessment - of health issues, particularly those related to water quality - will be the focus of the Pankisi Field Team once they take up residence in Pankisi in the coming months.
Further details and complete results, including detailed turbidity measurements, photographic evidence of bacteria colonies, and GPS mapping of tested water sources, will be available in a more extensive report to be finalized in October 2010.
