A political delegation as guests: OOWV intensifies international cooperation
Meeting at the wastewater treatment plant on Wehde Street (from left): Yomelela Tyali (Buffalo City Councillor), Volker Bruns (Head of the OOWV Oldenburg Wastewater Treatment Plant), Mayor Princess Faku, Meike Lenzen (Project Engineer from the International Cooperation and Water Innovation Networks Department at OOWV), Darby Gounden (Manager International and Intergovernmental Relations) and Mxolisi Maxon Yawa (City Manager) | Photo: Heiko Poppen/OOWV
Oldenburg. Climate change, drought, water demands - the challenges facing water management in northwest Germany are not particularly different from those in southern Africa, for example. That is why the Oldenburg East Frisian Water Association (OOWV) 2022, together with the Wupperverband (Wuppertal), has started an international cooperation with the metropolitan community of Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality.
"We need a global view to be able to react to changes locally," says OOWV Managing Director Karsten Specht. This includes a regular exchange between the practitioners of the three partners. For the first time, a political delegation from South Africa was in the region as part of the partnership, including the mayoress Princess Faku. She and her colleagues Mxolisi Yawa, Yomelela Tyali and Darby Gounden visited, among other things, the waterworks in Nethen and the OOWV sewage treatment plant in Oldenburg. Interesting: The city of Oldenburg has also maintained a partnership with Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality for more than ten years. Mayor Jürgen Krogmann did not miss the opportunity to welcome the guests.
Volker Bruns, head of the OOWV wastewater treatment plant in Oldenburg (left), and Meike Lenzen, project engineer from the International Cooperation and Water Innovation Networks (IZW) department at OOWV (2nd from left), gave the guests from South Africa an insight into the electrical workshop at the plant on Wehdestraße. | Photo: Heiko Poppen/OOWV
"This visit boosted the whole project," says Meike Lenzen, project engineer from the International Cooperation and Water Innovation Networks (IZW) department at OOWV. "There was a lot of interest in topics such as organic farming for groundwater protection, the quality of raw water and our environmental education sites," the expert reports from the talks. The water supply of the people on Spiekeroog and Langeoog via a freshwater lens below the respective island had really amazed the delegation. "The political guests got to understand why the partnership is so important," Meike Lenzen sums up and adds: "To ensure a secure supply, we have to think beyond borders and act together."
For Managing Director Karsten Specht, advancing the OOWV's international cooperation with South Africa and also Ukraine in the contaxt of the Utility Platform is a matter close to his heart, which is why he is strongly committed to the successes. "The direct exchange between experts at all levels is what makes the partnerships so profitable.
Volker Bruns, head of the OOWV wastewater treatment plant in Oldenburg (left), and Meike Lenzen, project engineer from the International Cooperation and Water Innovation Networks (IZW) department at OOWV (right), showed the guests from South Africa around the plant on Wehdestraße. | Photo: Heiko Poppen/OOWV
Good to know: These projects are not financed by fees and charges, but for the most part from funding sources.
Following the visit to Oldenburg, the delegation travelled together to Berlin. There they took part in the event "Water Operators' Partnerships (WOPs) - Sustainable Water Security Beyond Aid", organised by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). This event focused on the importance of international partnerships of municipal enterprises for the achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). OOWV Managing Director Karsten Specht emphasised the importance of transnational cooperation on essential water management issues.
Afterwards, the annual network meeting of the Utility Platform took place. With a total of 70 participants from nine utility partnerships, there was an exchange on technical and business management topics. It was also discussed how knowledge transfer and capacity development (help for self-help) can be expanded in the company.
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