On Friday, 21 June, Lord Mayor Katja Dörner and BonnNetz Managing Director Urs Reitis met at the House of Networks to inspect the many relief supplies that BonnNetz has procured for Kherson. The material collected in BonnNetz's central warehouse is to be transported to Ukraine as soon as possible.

Independently of the cooperation agreed by the Bonn City Council in February 2023, the network operator maintains its own solidarity utility partnership with the Ukrainian water company Khersonvodokanal. This was established last year with the local municipal water supplier..

A sign of a strong partnership

"I am delighted that we are able to help our colleagues in Ukraine, who are suffering greatly from the war, with our materials. This is a matter of course for us. We are not only helping the water supplier in Kherson, but also the local people by getting the wastewater and drinking water networks back into operation as quickly as possible," said Urs Reitis, Managing Director of BonnNetz. He also expressed his special thanks to the BonnNetz employees who are in charge of coordinating future aid. SWB Bus and Rail Purchasing also provided significant support in the tendering process and the procurement of materials and equipment.

Mayor Katja Dörner added: "I am delighted with the commitment of Stadtwerke Bonn, in this case BonnNetz. It's great that, in addition to our municipal partnership, a partnership has also been formed between companies in both cities. It can be a model for many other commitments, and we can see today that it is working. The people in Kherson are still reliant on our help in Bonn."

"We are delighted to have Bonn Netz as a committed partner for our project. It is of great importance to support Ukraine in these difficult times in restoring critical infrastructure. The main objective of this partnership is to help the Ukrainian water utility Chersonvodokanal, which is suffering greatly from the war of aggression, to continue its daily work through targeted procurements. In the long term, however, it is just as important that the partnership continues to develop and that the exchange of expertise is prioritised," says Heiko Heidemann, Project Manager Utility Platform for Strengthening Partnerships of Municipal Enterprises Worldwide at GIZ.

Materials for network maintenance

The city, which has been badly damaged by the Russian war of aggression, currently lacks the necessary materials, but the employees of "Chersonvodokanal" are risking their lives to restore the drinking water supply bit by bit and repair as many leaks as possible. The city has not only suffered damage from attacks, but also from the destruction of the Kakhovka dam. The water from the large dam flowed through Kherson and swept away everything that could not withstand it.

The Bonn aid delivery consists of two parts. Thanks to federal funding totalling around 100,000 euros, it was possible to procure new pressure-reducing/pressure-retaining valves, gate valves, non-return valves, hammer drills, demolition hammers, fire hoses, ladders and a mobile power supply, among other things. In addition, BonnNetz donated the staff hours spent as well as material from its own stock, including drinking water pumps and IT equipment such as laptops and screens.

Visit from Ukraine to Bonn

At the end of February, a delegation from Kherson visited BonnNetz and SWB Bus and Rail. The guests from the Black Sea came to the German capital to strengthen the solidarity partnership between Bonn and Kherson and to exchange ideas on emergency aid and long-term reconstruction and to gain an insight into Bonn's infrastructure.

The agenda included a visit to the SWB Bus and Rail traffic control centre on Thomas-Mann- Street, as well as the Haus der Netze on Karl Street. Urs Reitis informed the Ukrainian guests about the creation of local grids, energy management and water and heat supply in the federal city.

The delegation participants were particularly interested in Stadtwerke Bonn's endeavours to make its energy supply climate-neutral in future, as sustainable energy supply will also be a focus of the reconstruction efforts in Ukraine. The new hydrogen-capable turbine was also presented during a tour of the northern combined heat and power plant. The plans for a river heat pump on the Rhine were also explained at the time. An idea that could also be realised in Kherson, as the city is located on the large Dnipro River.