Wastewater Treatment Plant Operator Exchange in South Africa: Technical Collaboration and Opening of the ecReUse Pilot Plant in East London
During the one-week stay, the technical focus was on the “East Bank” wastewater treatment plant in East London. At the outset, the team gained an overview of the existing processes during a site tour, with particular attention to the process control system and the sensor technology in use. In the following days, sampling points were […]
Workshop: Strengthening Operational Planning in Operator Partnerships
Thank you to the nearly 40 participants who joined our workshop on operational planning and monitoring, and who provided valuable feedback to help us further refine our template. On 17 March 2026, members of the Utility Platform came together to strengthen how results are planned and tracked within operator partnerships. An input by Mohan Dhamotharan set the scene for a practical exchange, followed by group work using our adapted operational planning template. A key question emerged during the session: What is operational planning for? Operational planning provides a structured framework […]
Factsheet of the Utility Platform
The Utlility Platform in brief: background, objectives, approach, including its special approch in the Ukraine.
Looking back at IFAT Munich 2024
Today three months ago the Utility Platform attended IFAT Munich: the world’s leading trade fair for water, sewage, waste and raw materials management. With almost 150,000 visitors from almost 170 countries and regions, it brings together the most important international industry representatives from politics, business and science and offers exciting ideas and innovative solutions for […]
Outcome Report 5: South African Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality and German Water Operators Oldenburgisch-Ostfriesischer Wasserverband and Wupperverband
The Water Operator Partnership (WOP) between Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality (BCMM) in South Africa, Oldenburgisch-Ostfriesischer Wasserverband (OOWV) and Wupperverband (WV) in Germany was funded under the pilot phase of the German Utility Platform for Strengthening Partnerships of Municipal Utilities Worldwide. The project kicked off in February 2022 and built on an existing twinning arrangement between […]
Joint job training at the Radevormwald wastewater treatment plant
The cooperation between the Wupperverband, the Oldenburgisch-Ostfriesischer Wasserverband (OOWV) and the South African Water and Wastewater Management Department of the Buffalo City Municipality (BCMM), which has been in place since 2022, continues to gather pace. As part of the second practical exchange, a joint work training session was held from April 15 to 19 with […]
7. Network meeting of the Utility Platform: an overview
Overview How can utility partnerships make a difference in achieving the sustainability goals of the 2030 Agenda? What was achieved in the pilot phase of the Utility Platform? What will the follow-up phase look like? These questions were the focus of the seventh networking event of the Utility Platform and were answered impressively. Almost 100 […]
“…as if you’ve known each other forever and a day.”
The German experts – a delegation from the Oldenburg-Ostfriesischer Wasserverbund (OOWV) and the Wupperverband – visited the BCMM plants for just under a week. After a joint tour of the East Bank wastewater treatment plant, which is the pilot plant of the wastewater working group, the working groups split up. The wastewater working group mainly […]
Understanding the background better
The German experts – a delegation from the Oldenburg-Ostfriesischer Wasserverbund (OOWV) and the Wupperverband – visited the BCMM plants for just under a week. After a joint tour of the East Bank wastewater treatment plant, which is the pilot plant for the project work, the working groups split up. The wastewater working group stayed mainly […]
“Small changes add up to a lot”
Supplying the population with water and disposing of wastewater in the best possible way – these municipal tasks are at the centre of the water utility partnership between the Oldenburgisch-Ostfriesischer Wasserverband (OOWV), the Wupperverband and the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality in South Africa. Samantha Westphal from the City of Oldenburg, Meike Lenzen from OOWV and […]