Visit by Stadtentwässerung Dresden GmbH to the Luapula Water Supply and Sanitation Company in Zambia

In April 2025, a delegation from Stadtentwässerung Dresden GmbH visited their colleagues at Luapula Water Supply and Sanitation Company

In April 2025, a delegation from Stadtentwässerung Dresden GmbH (SEDD) visited the Luapula Water Supply and Sanitation Company (LpWSC) in Zambia. The mission was a great success and served to inspect the achievements of the existing Water Operator Partnership (WOP), define current challenges and prepare for future partnership development as part of the follow-up phase of the EU WOP II, which is being implemented by GWOPA. During the work-intensive week, numerous visits and inventories of technical facilities, including wastewater treatment plants, waterworks and the associated laboratories, were carried out, discussions were held on business management and public relations topics, a joint environmental education project was organised for a Zambian school class and the Minister of the Zambian Ministry of Education was met. Both sides were impressed by the high level of motivation and commitment of the teams.

A warm welcome from the LpWSC team at Mansa Airport | Photo: Stadtentwässerung Dresden GmbH
Samfya waterworks | Photo: Stadtentwässerung Dresden GmbH

Expert exchange on special challenges and highlights

A central component of the meetings was the professional exchange on specific challenges and highlights, which included, among others:

  • The initiation of a discussion on integrating environmental education programmes into the Zambian school curriculum, based on the pilot project of the student experiments of the Stadtentwässerung Dresden,
  • Business management topics in the areas of public relations, human resources and project management,
  • Lack of financial resources for waterworks laboratories,
  • Limited power supply and lack of wastewater inflow at sewage treatment plants, which have a major impact on the operation of pumps,
  • Financial bottlenecks during the rainy season and the high turbidity of the river water after the rainy season as well as the associated problems due to the sensitive technology of the water treatment plant,
  • Successful initial trials to produce biogas from sewage sludge and composting trials to produce fertiliser at the wastewater treatment plant in Mansa,
  • The sustainable and independent energy supply of waterworks, for example through the solar panels already installed at the waterworks in Kawambwa.

Key topics for the follow-up phase

During the assignment, colleagues from the SEDD and LpWSC were able to jointly identify specific key topics that they want to focus on in the follow-up phase:

  • Environmental and hygiene education (WASH): Expansion of programmes in schools, as children serve as quick multipliers for knowledge and behavioural change,
  • Non-Revenue Water (NRW): Strategies for reducing water losses due to leaks and illegal connections,
  • Public relations (PR): Increased external and internal communication of successes and progress of local water infrastructure and expansion of campaigns,
  • Langfristige Personalstruktur: Sicherstellung der Nachhaltigkeit und Stabilität der Belegschaft von LpWSC,
  • Technology and knowledge transfer: Further training and expansion of employees’ technical skills.

The project has impressively demonstrated that LpWSC, together with its partners, is on a very promising path to shaping a sustainable water future for the Luapula province. The high level of motivation, the extraordinary commitment and the open willingness to learn and change on the part of all those involved form the foundation for further success.

Impressions

Erstellt von:
Stadtentwässerung Dresden GmbH
Kategorien:
Working visit and job shadowing
Working visit and job shadowing
Länder:
Germany
Zambia