The 'Berliner Wasserbetriebe' water utility is donating seven vehicles to the Ukrainian wastewater operator 'Lvivodokanal'. Together with Germany's Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Svenja Schulze, and the Vice President of the Association of Municipal Enterprises, Karsten Specht, the company handed over the vehicles today.

To maintain wastewater disposal in Ukraine, the Berlin water utility is donating seven vehicles to Lviv's wastewater operator Lvivodokanal. The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) is supporting the logistics for technical relief goods donated by the German water industry, which the Association of Local Utilities (VKU) launched together with its Ukrainian partner association 'Ukrvodokanalecologya'.

As German Federal Minister Svenja Schulze says, 'Russia is continuing to destroy critical infrastructure in Ukraine. Water supply is also a target of Russian attacks. This is why the support of local utilities from Germany, such as Berliner Wasserbetriebe, is so important. Because they know what their Ukrainian colleagues need in order to supply the people. The great willingness to help shown by Berliner Wasserbetriebe, the Association of Local Utilities and the many other German cities, municipalities and local utilities, demonstrates that we are standing together and working together for a European future and the reconstruction of Ukraine.'

With its generous and urgently needed donation, Berliner Wasserbetriebe today is one example of more than 40 small and large municipal water and wastewater operators from all over Germany that have been donating technical relief supplies to Ukraine since the beginning of the war. Transporting equipment weighing tonnes through war zones is not easy, not to mention the effort associated with customs and export. We would therefore like to thank German Federal Minister Svenja Schulze, your organisation and GIZ for streamlining the process, and making the logistics much easier with the help of the Ukrainian NGO GoLocal. This means that we can help our Ukrainian colleagues with vehicles, transformers, pumps or even a waterworks to ensure the best possible water supply and sanitation for the people in Ukraine, and to repair destroyed facilities and infrastructure.' – Karsten Specht, VKU Vice President.

 
'The situation in Ukraine is precarious, especially in winter, and some services of general interest can only be maintained with great effort, or not at all,' says Christoph Donner, CEO of Berliner Wasserbetriebe. 'The fact that we are providing help has a long tradition in the water industry, and is an important contribution for our colleagues in Lviv. I am pleased that this is happening so smoothly, and would like to express my sincere thanks to our dedicated colleagues at the Ministry, the VKU and the utility who have made this possible.'

The vehicles – including an HGV, a Unimog, various dropside trucks and a trailer – are between eleven and 23 years old. They were taken out of service by the utility, and were intended for sale. Instead, they have now been repaired, inspected and will be sent to Ukraine next week. The donation was arranged by Germany's Association of Local Utilities, which together with the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) has set up a cooperation platform for donations from the German water industry. The non-governmental organisation GoLocal is responsible for transporting the goods to Lviv.