The water utilities show solidarity with their Ukrainian colleagues. Four solidarity utility partnerships have been established: The Oldenburgisch-Ostfriesischer Wasserverband (OOWV) with Sumyvodokanal and with ChernihivVodokanal, MVV Netze Mannheim with ChernivtsiVodokanal and Hamburg Wasser with KiyvVodokanal.

In the long-term partnership, the German utilities and Lukanga want to exchange ideas and learn from each other. Get a closer look at the partnership in the report which was produced during the 4th network meeting in Stuttgart.

In Stuttgart's Impact Hub, a co-working space and event venue, more than 60 practitioners from seven partnerships met on 30 and 31 May 2022 to identify success factors for utility partnerships and to exchange ideas on current challenges in their partnerships. In addition to networking, they identified areas of mutual interest on which they will continue to work together across the partnerships.

„Within two weeks after the war we received five big trucks with e.g. Diesel generators from our partner utilities in Dresden, Berlin and Cologne. This meant we could supply firefighters and citizens with water even after our power supply was destroyed.“ -Volodymyr Bylynsky, deputy chief engineer at Lvivvodokanal.

After an initial fact finding mission by Hamburg Wasser, kept to a minimum under Covid-19 conditions, and numerous digital meetings, the first face-to-face exchanges have now taken place at hanseWasser in Bremen as well as in Amman and Madaba in Jordan.

Together with the City of Dresden, the Service Agency Communities in One World (SKEW) of Engagement Global hosted the 5th Partnership Conference between German and African municipalities from 20 to 22 September 2022. Participants included two utility partnerships that are active on the African continent.

Industry-specific water treatment can save valuable drinking water in the future, which is becoming increasingly scarce in Germany due to the effects of climate change. First pilot projects with the chemical industry as well as with a paper and cardboard factory were successfully completed  and were presented at the Youtility Lunch - a one-hour virtual lunch format of the utility platform.

The main objective of the partnership is to facilitate peer-to-peer support and mutual learning between the partners involved. The team set up a three-year work plan and has already launched important activities, such as a successful hackathon event in Durban for the development of smart meter solutions with more than 50 participants from the sector.

The video demonstrates how WOPs (Water Operator Partnerships) work in practice, based on the partnership between Hamburg Wasser and colleagues from KASHWASA and KUWASA in Tanzania on the occasion of the job shadowing in June 2022.

Participants will have the opportunity to take part in technical and methodological workshops. The programme includes topics such as "smart metering" or "drinking water treatment", which will be discussed across the partnerships. Different methodological workshops are also offered, such as "Strengthening advisory skills". More information coming soon on our website.

Connective Cities and the Municipal Drainage Operation Utility of Cologne (Stadtentwässerungsbetriebe Köln) invite municipal water practitioners to a dialogue event that addresses adaption measures to climate change to reduce its negative effects on the urban environment. The deadline for applications is 4 November 2022.