The project
War, destruction and an uncertain future – what most OOWV employees only know from stories told by their parents or grandparents has been a bitter reality in Ukraine for more than year. Large-scale attacks on the country’s critical infrastructure threaten the supply of energy and water to the population as well as the disposal of wastewater. OOWV does not want to look away and support its colleagues in the eastern Ukrainian cities of Chernihiv and Sumy with material and expertise.
The focus of the solidarity partnership is primarily on material supplies, but all partners agree that they would like to establish a long-term sustainable cooperation.
Initiation
The first contacts were made in May 2022 at the IFAT trade fair in Munich. Since then, the partners have been in regular digital exchange with each other.
In November 2022, four Ukrainian guests were welcomed to OOWV. During this first personal meeting in a larger group, they visited waterworks, sewage treatment plants and the Kaskade Museum, among other things. There was a lively technical exchange with OOWV employees on site.
Activities
Important for this partnership is the exchange of colleagues on an equal footing in order to support the Ukrainian experts as efficiently as possible in carrying out their work on site. For this reason, procurements are discussed jointly in order to find the best possible solutions. These meetings take place virtually about every fortnight. In addition to procurement, more and more topics of operation and new investments are now being discussed. During the visit in November 2023, the Ukrainian experts will exchange concepts for new drinking water and wastewater facilities with their German colleagues over two days. The analysis of damage patterns from the inspection of sewers will also be a topic during the visit.
Procurements
Both Eastern Ukrainian partners were hit by the war as early as February 2022 and would like to rebuild their destroyed infrastructure with the support of OOWV. The main focus of these partnerships is to support the Ukrainian water operators in their daily work with targeted procurements. In autumn 2022, the procurement of three raw water pumps including the electronic components for the control cabinets for Chernihiv and the procurement of a camera inspection system and analytics for the Sumy laboratory were agreed with the Ukrainian colleagues and delivered in May 2023. This year, the focus of the procurement is on a suction vehicle for Chernihiv. For Sumy, the procurement of a van with a flushing unit and material for electrical engineering is planned.
Meeting
After the first visit to Germany in November 2022, the partners were able to get to know each other personally at further meetings. These included the meeting in February 2023 at the “Rebuild Ukraine” trade fair to talk together with exhibitors and potential donors, as well as the network meeting in May 2023, where the focus was on exchanges with the other water utilities from Germany and Ukraine.
Finally, another visit to Brake in November and to the “Rebuild Ukraine 2.0” trade fair will conclude the activities in 2023.
The three partners would like to continue the now familiar cooperation after the end of the current project phase in June 2024.
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Last update: End of October 2023
