H1 2026 Evaluation
Georgia Reservoir Transparency
F3Opaque — Ranked #127 out of 167 countries
weight 30%
weight 20%
weight 15%
weight 13%
weight 10%
weight 8%
weight 5%
Primary source evaluated
LEPL National Environmental Agency — Hydrometeorology Department
https://nea.gov.ge/En/Departments/HydrometeorologyDimension breakdown
Data Availability
20% of total score
No public dashboard or portal provides current reservoir storage volumes for Georgian reservoirs. The NEA Hydrometeorology Department states it performs daily dissemination of hydrometeorological data including surface waters and reservoirs, and publishes hydrological bulletins and cadastres, but these are not freely downloadable from its website. The Enguri HPP operator (engurhesi.ge) publishes daily electricity generation data online (HTML tables, 2019–2022) and lists a water level page (specification/3) that appears to be on a restricted webmail subdomain. The Georgian Water and Power (GWP) website for Zhinvali shows no reservoir level or storage data. No national reservoir dashboard exists.
Technical Accessibility
15% of total score
No REST API or machine-readable open data feed exists for Georgian reservoir data from any official source. The NEA website offers no dataset downloads; data is mentioned in bulletins that must be requested. Enguri HPP's generation data is published as view-only HTML tables with no CSV export. ESCO publishes aggregated electricity balance statistics but without per-reservoir breakdown or storage volumes. The EBRD-funded Enguri Hydrology Initiative (2021–2023) installed modern monitoring stations and real-time telemetry, but the resulting data feeds were transferred to the Georgian State Electrosystem for internal operational use — not as a public data portal.
Coverage
30% of total score
Methodology v1.3.0 (capacity-weighted). Georgia's qualifying national reservoir capacity is approximately 1,100 hm³, with Enguri/Jvari reservoir (~1,100 hm³ behind the 272 m arch dam) dominating; Zhinvali (~500 hm³), Sioni (~325 hm³), Tbilisi Sea (~308 hm³), Khrami I/II (~310 hm³ combined), Shaori (~90 hm³), Paravani (~91 hm³), Tkibuli (~85 hm³) and Algeti (~13 hm³) add further qualifying capacity, but for the Enguri-dominated national total the published-storage coverage is the relevant metric. Engurhesi publishes daily generation kWh but no storage levels; the EBRD-funded real-time telemetry installed 2021–2023 feeds the Georgian State Electrosystem internally rather than a public portal. Covered capacity is 0 hm³. Coverage = round(100 × 0 / 1,100) = 0.
Historical Depth
13% of total score
Long historical records exist internally: Enguri water level has been systematically recorded since dam commissioning in the 1970s (1974–present), and research collaborations have produced datasets spanning 2016–2020 deposited in academic repositories (UniData, DOI 10.20366/unimib/unidata/SI384-2.0). However, these records were supplied directly by dam administration to academic researchers and are not discoverable through any official Georgian public portal. The NEA mentions hydrometeorological cadastres and multi-year GIS data, but no online archive or downloadable historical series is publicly accessible without contacting the agency. Enguri HPP's website shows electricity generation tables back to 2019 only.
Update Frequency
10% of total score
The NEA Hydrometeorology Department formally commits to daily operative dissemination of hydrometeorological data at national and international levels, which would imply daily updates if data were publicly accessible. In practice, the Enguri HPP website publishes electricity generation at daily resolution (each day's kWh visible in HTML tables), but this is generation output — not reservoir fill. No other reservoir publishes any operational data at any frequency. The real-time telemetry installed by the Enguri Hydrology Initiative (transmitting hourly to Tbilisi since 2014–2021) feeds internal GSE systems, not public portals. Score reflects the gap between stated internal capability and actual public availability.
Methodological Transparency
8% of total score
No formal measurement methodology for reservoir storage or water level monitoring is publicly documented by any Georgian authority. Georgia has been implementing the EU Water Framework Directive with USAID support since 2017, and guidance documents on ecological status classification and pressures/impacts have been developed, but these address water quality methodology — not storage measurement. The Law on Water Resources Management is under regulatory development (World Bank meeting 2024). Enguri dam monitoring uses an Endress+Hauser RSG30 telemetry system (noted in academic literature), but no calibration protocol or measurement standard is published officially. GeoSIG instruments are cited for structural dam safety monitoring — separate from volumetric storage.
Language and Usability
5% of total score
Multiple official Georgian sources maintain English-language versions: the NEA website (nea.gov.ge/En) is fully bilingual Georgian/English; the Enguri HPP operator site (engurhesi.ge/en) has a functional English version including its generation data tables; ESCO (esco.ge/en) explicitly states its English version is kept in parallel with Georgian updates; the hydromet.ge informational site appears primarily in English. While the English interfaces exist, they primarily expose organizational descriptions rather than data. The underlying data deficit is not a language problem — it is an absence of public data altogether. Score reflects good language accessibility for what little data exists.
Evaluator notes
Georgia presents a stark contrast between strategic importance and data transparency. Hydropower supplies approximately 80% of the country's electricity generation, anchored by the Enguri arch dam (272 m, one of the world's tallest), yet no public portal provides current or historical reservoir storage volumes for any Georgian facility. The National Environmental Agency formally claims daily dissemination of hydrometeorological data including reservoirs, and the Enguri HPP operator publishes daily electricity generation figures — but storage volume (Mm³ or % fill) is absent from all public-facing systems. The EBRD-financed Enguri Hydrology Initiative (April 2021–April 2023) documented that before the project, a single state-owned gauging station served the entire Enguri basin; it installed modern telemetry and hydrological modelling capacity, but these outcomes were transferred to the Georgian State Electrosystem for internal operational use rather than enabling a public data portal. The institutional landscape is fragmented among the NEA (hydrometeorology), the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture (regulatory), ESCO (electricity market), and private or semi-state dam operators (Engurhesi for Enguri; GWP for Zhinvali water supply). None of these entities publishes reservoir fill data proactively. Research access to water level time series has been achieved through direct bilateral agreements between dam operators and academic institutions (e.g., the Mikheil Nodia Institute of Geophysics), producing datasets deposited in Italian university repositories — not Georgian government portals. Water Framework Directive implementation is underway but focused on ecological quality standards, not volumetric transparency. Language accessibility is relatively strong given that multiple official sites maintain genuine English versions, and ESCO's electricity balance statistics (aggregated hydro generation in kWh) are accessible in English — providing a partial proxy for hydrological conditions. The main deficiency is categorical: storage-volume data for the critical reservoirs (Enguri, Zhinvali, Shaori, Sioni, Paravani) is simply not published in any form, machine-readable or otherwise. Georgia scores in the lowest transparency tier alongside other post-Soviet Caucasus states, marginally above complete opacity due to English-language interfaces, partial generation data from Enguri, and documented institutional capacity-building progress post-2023.
Evaluated by Jaime Delgado · 2026-09-15 · Methodology v1.3.0