The first example came from the partnership between Gelsenwasser AG and Lukanga Water Supply and Sanitation Company (LgWSC) in Kabwe, Zambia, presented by Nicholas Mwape, Engineer and Technical Operations Manager at LgWSC, Uwe Raback, Engineer, and Christopher Galla, IT Specialist for Geodata Management at Gelsenwasser AG.

Uwe Raback received a very warm welcome from his partner colleagues on his first trip to Kabwe in May 2023. An initial inventory of the available data from LgWSC revealed that the GIS data was incomplete. In addition, the use of the data was severely limited by the fact that only one employee had installed the data on his computer. There were no funds to purchase commercial software products and their annual licence costs. Back in Germany, Uwe Raback and his colleague Christopher Galla therefore developed a free GIS system based on the open source software WebGIS. The colleagues from LgWSC were very quickly convinced by this system during Uwe Raback's second visit to Kabwe in November 2023. All LgWSC employees can now access the GIS maps on their mobile devices and add to the data in the field. As soon as the data has reached a certain level of completeness, the system can then help to identify and resolve operational faults and leaks more quickly on the one hand, and provide a data-based decision-making basis for investment decisions in order to better maintain the systems on the other. In the medium term, the mapped consumption points will also be linked to commercial data, thereby supporting business management.

Majeda Al Zoubi, Head of the Quality Assurance Department at Miyahuna LLC Water Company, described how the partnership with Hamburg Wasser has resulted in close co-operation between the laboratories of both companies, from which they benefit greatly.
Miyahhuna LLC Water Company supplies almost six million people in the greater Amman area with drinking water and disposes of wastewater, making it by far the largest and most modern water company in Jordan, one of the driest countries in the world. Water management is therefore a very high priority in Jordan. Miyahuna has already established a modern quality assurance system for drinking water and wastewater and the laboratory has been certified according to international standards, ISO 17025. However, as there is no other comparable laboratory in Jordan, for a long time there was no opportunity to exchange and compare professional expertise with others.

During the visit of a delegation from Miyahuna LLC Water Company to Hamburg in November 2022, the idea of a laboratory partnership was born, which was further concretised during a return visit by colleagues from Hamburg Wasser in Amman in March 2023. Since then, virtual workshops have been held almost every month on various topics such as ‘ICP drinking water analyses for traces of heavy metals’, ‘Determination of fats, oils and greases (FOG) from wastewater’, ‘Microbiological analyses’, ‘Quality audits and key performance indicators’ and ‘Indirect discharges and sampling’. A total of 25 employees from Miyahuna LLC Water Company were involved in these workshops. Through the exchange of experience, benchmarking and training, they were able to further develop their skills, refine analysis methods, optimise processes and update the checklists for quality audits to the very latest state of the art within just a few months. Further activities in this collaboration are also planned for the future.

"The partnership gives us the opportunity to be sure that we are working at the high level we are aiming for. When you compare your situation with others, you see the true picture. It gives me confidence in my technical work, in my professionalism. That's a good thing. That's simply the main thing. I want to continue to optimise this and maximise the benefits."

Majeda Al Zoubi, Head of Water Quality, Miyahuna LCC Water Company, Jordan