Russia's imperial Romanov family built its summer retreat here so they could take the restorative Borjomi mineral waters. But now this elegantly decaying spa town has become the latest battleground in the ongoing fight between 'Big Oil' and international green campaigners.

Within weeks, the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, being built by a consortium of oil companies, will be laid across the head of the Borjomi valley as it snakes its way from Azerbaijan's Caspian Sea oil fields to Turkey's Mediterranean coast.

But green groups say the pipeline, which will pump up to one million barrels of crude a day, could cause an ecological disaster, contaminating the Borjomi springs and the surrounding national park, if it springs a leak.

And even if there is no leak, critics say, consumers will stop buying Borjomi mineral water, Georgia's biggest manufactured export and a rare business success story in the impoverished former Soviet republic.

"My concern is the same as Evian, or Perrier, or any other mineral water company that sees a huge pipeline cross its water recharge area," said Jacques Fleury, chief executive of the Georgian Glass & Mineral Water Company, which owns the Borjomi brand.

"If you learn that there is a huge pipeline crossing the Evian field, won't the consumer switch brands, just to be safe? Without any leak you automatically have damage to the brand."

"We think that the problem is third party acts, sabotage. Once the pipeline is sabotaged then we know what will happen, we will have 5,000 tonnes (of oil) coming down the valley to us."

International green campaigners share those concerns. "In the Borjomi valley the route will pass near these mineral water aquifers and any spill there could have very serious consequences," said Nick Rau, a climate campaigner with the London-based Friends of the Earth group.

"There are a lot of national parks, a lot of species and very rare environments that the pipeline will pass through."

Oil major BP, BTC's biggest shareholder, counters that the chances of a leak are infinitely small. All the same, they promise safety measures including cut-off valves, electronic sensors and round-the-clock patrols.

The pipeline passes 15 kilometres (9.3 miles) from the Borjomi springs and hyro-geologists hired by the BTC consortium have concluded that even if there is a leak, the crude cannot contaminate the aquifer.

The consortium says green campaigners should look at the bigger picture. The pipeline, they say, is much greener than the alternative: shipping Caspian oil on tankers through the Bosphorus straits.

Ecologists say the congested waterway, which links the Black Sea to the Mediterranean, is an environmental disaster waiting to happen.

"One should never forget that the real purpose of the BTC pipeline was to reduce the number of tankers going through the Bosphorus. That is the real environmental benefit," said Michael Townshend, Managing Director of BTC Co.

He added: "A pipeline is a shy creature. The whole purpose is about avoiding things. We are avoiding the Bosphorus. We are avoiding displacing people from their homes, we are avoiding natural parks."

"We are avoiding areas which are difficult to reinstate. The other thing is that the pipeline is buried. The only thing you will see is (the pumping stations)," said Townshend.

This battle appears to have been won by the oil companies. Georgia's government has approved the route. Construction crews are now 50 kilometres from the Borjomi valley and advancing at a rate of about one kilometre a day.

But Fleury said the fight was not over. "Its never too late," he said. "It's going to be a long, long story. This pipeline is going to be with us for 40 years so one way or another our concerns will have to be satisfied."

TERRA.WIRE