This would entail the introduction of a licensing regime for surface water abstraction - a measure recommended in the latest Environmental Performance Review of Georgia by the UNECE and included in the new (2014) draft Georgian legislation shortly to come before Parliament. Abstraction charges signal the real resource cost3 of the water. Abstraction charges are also a source of financial cost recover}', enabling funds to be raised either for water resources management and other environmental improvements, or for general public expenditure.