In the north-west. Learning from each other, cooperating across borders and overcoming challenges together – this is at the centre of the cooperation between the Oldenburgisch-Ostfriesischer Wasserverband (OOWV) and the Chambeshi Water Supply and Sanitation Company (ChWSSC) from Zambia. A delegation from the African water supply and wastewater disposal company has now visited the region for a working meeting lasting several days and an intensive exchange of expertise and opinions. Employees from the Wupperverband, another partner in the cooperation, were also present.
“The aim of the utility partnership is to learn from each other’s practices and develop joint solutions for comparable challenges. Operators in the Global South are facing challenges that are also becoming increasingly important here in Germany, particularly as a result of climate change,” explains Sabine Albach, project manager at OOWV. According to her, these include, for example, dealing with conflicts over water use, a sustainable and secure energy supply, the use of alternative water resources, the development of new management concepts and also digitalisation issues.
The partnership began nine months ago. During the current meeting, first at the Wupperverband and then at OOWV, the topics were concretised during workshops and visits to several facilities. At the OOWV, the guests from Zambia learnt about the waterworks in Nethen and the drinking water laboratory at this location, among other things. “For our partners, the near-natural form of groundwater treatment in our waterworks was a new experience,” reports Sabine Albach. In Zambia, it is necessary to add chlorine to the water. There, it is not extracted from groundwater as it is here, but largely from surface water.
“The personal dialogue over several days helps us all move forward,” the project manager sums up. “Such a lively exchange would not have been possible in digital form,” she says: “Now we were able to work more intensively on complex issues.” She would like to thank her colleagues who took the time to present the sites they visited to the guests in English and answer their questions.
OOWV managing director Karsten Specht personally welcomed the delegation from the Zambian partner. “In times when borders are being closed in many regions of the world and there is less international cooperation, we are deliberately taking a different approach. We are convinced that we can find solutions to pressing issues through cooperation and partnership,” he said.
With this in mind, OOWV is currently involved in three further operator partnerships with utilities from South Africa, Tanzania and Ukraine.
