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International partner
Apă-Canal Chișinău
Apa Canal AG in Chișinău was founded in 1892. After several name changes and reorganisations, it is the oldest company of its kind in the Republic and can look back on a history of over 130 years. The company is also the largest in the country, supplying drinking water to around 0.8 million inhabitants and more than 13,000 non-household customers.
Its main activities are the provision of public water supply and wastewater disposal services and the generation and supply of thermal energy. The total length of water pipelines operated is more than 3,800 km, of which 230 km are transmission water pipelines, 2,200 km are distribution networks and 1,400 km are supply networks.
Lead partner
Netze BW Wasser
Netze BW Wasser specialises in the operation and maintenance of water, electricity and gas grids. It is a subsidiary of EnBW Energie Baden-Württemberg AG and is responsible for the distribution network in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg. Netze BW supplies around three million households and businesses. The electricity distribution network has a length of more than 100,000 kilometres. The pipe network for natural gas is 4,700 kilometres long and the water pipe network is around 2,500 kilometres in length.
Lead partner
Stadtentwässerung Dresden
Stadtentwässerung Dresden GmbH provides wastewater collection, drainage and treatment services as well as conducting environmental analyses and planning and constructing wastewater infrastructure. The company serves around 670,000 customers in eastern Saxony. With some 400 employees, annual turnover of EUR 85 million and an annual investment budget of around EUR 30 million, it is one of the largest utilities in the sector.
The Project
The Republic of Moldova borders Romania to the west and is completely surrounded by Ukraine to the north, east and south. The capital Chișinău is home to around a third of Moldova's population of 2.5 million.
Following the escalation of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine in February 2022, the Republic of Moldova allowed more than 600,000 Ukrainian civilians to flee across its border. Although Moldova is one of the poorest countries in Europe, it has permanently taken in more than 100,000 Ukrainian refugees, many of them in Chișinău. In terms of population, the Republic of Moldova supports one of the highest proportions of Ukrainian refugees in Europe.
The main source of water, which covers 98% of the country's water needs, is the Dnister River, which is drawn from a single spring near the town of Vadul lui Vodă.
Due to the lack of diversity of water sources and the intensification of the water cycle, the Apă-Canal Chișinău company is constantly exposed to the risk of temporary water shortages, which are regularly manifested by a drop in the water level and water quality in the river or by flooding of the catchment areas.
A large proportion of the water pipes have been built since 1965, at a time of intensive urbanisation. Some of them are now old and in need of repair or replacement. For this reason, water losses are also relatively high at over 30 per cent of the volume fed into the system.
Objectives
The company "Apă-Canal Chișinău", in partnership with the German companies "Netze BW GmbH" and Stadtentwässerung Dresden, is interested in exchanging experiences in order to improve the water supply and wastewater disposal in the city of Chișinău. Due to the short duration of the existing funding period, the cooperation with Netze BW will initially focus on supporting Apă-Canal Chișinău in the introduction of digital metering infrastructures and the following objectives will be worked on as part of the partnership with Netze BW:
- Consulting on the selection and procurement of suitable water meters;
- Reduction of lost revenue due to metering inaccuracies;
- Reduction of expenses and costs in the billing of the increasing number of meters and defects;
- Early detection of disruptions or supply problems at the house supply point via smart messages from the meters. This enables appropriate customer communication and fault clearance planning to ensure the quality of Apă-Canal Chișinău's services.
The following objectives are being worked on as part of the partnership with Stadtentwässerung Dresden:
- Methodical analysis of the wastewater treatment plant in Chişinău and identification of optimisation potential and investment requirements
- Consulting on the utilisation of sewage sludge from wastewater treatment.
The exchange takes place both through virtual meetings and field visits in the Republic of Moldova and in Germany. The 6-month period will be used to review the existing infrastructure of Apa Canal Chişinău, identify optimisation opportunities and then implement the measures described in coordination with Apa Canal Chişinău as far as possible and as required.
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Last updated: January 2024
Impressions
Project profile
Project partners
Republic of Moldova:
Apă-Canal Chișinău, Chișinău
Germany:
Netze BW, Stuttgart
Stadtentwässerung Dresden
Focal topics
Introduction of digital metering infrastructure:
- Consulting on the selection and procurement of suitable water meters
- Reduction of lost revenue
- Reduction of expenses and costs in billing
- Early detection of disruptions at the house supply point
Improvement of the wastewater treatment plant:
- Identification of optimisation potential and investment requirements for the wastewater treatment plant
- Consulting on the utilisation of sewage sludge from wastewater treatment.