Waternet, Berliner Wasserbetriebe and SIAAP sign agreement to intensify collaboration

Waternet is the public water organisation of Amsterdam and surroundings, the only water utility in the Netherlands that covers the entire water cycle. Waternet provides water services to 1.3 million.

Berliner Wasserbetriebe is the largest water supply and wastewater transport and treatment company in Germany. They provide water services to 3.9 million people in Berlin and surroundings.

SIAAP is the greater Paris Sanitation Authority. They transport and treat wastewater for 9 million people in and around Paris, along with stormwater and industrial water management, contributing to a thriving natural environment in the Seine and Marne rivers.

Special about this agreement is the cooperation and exchange between these three parties (separate agreements already existed). We face the same challenges and search for solutions and we think that from our different perspectives, goals and situation, we will find inspiration and new possibilities. The agreement will allow for developing and extending existing relations in the form of knowledge development, knowledge sharing, execution of joint projects and staff training/capacity building.

More specific, the following topics are included as part of the cooperation:

• Resource recovery from the urban water cycle: energy, carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus are among the main resources for a circular economy and an energetic transition toward carbon neutral cities.
• Stormwater management in all its components, from stormwater pollution control to green infrastructures as well as the involvement of different actors in the city for an urban development consistent with sustainable urban water management.
• Recreational use of urban waters as well as water awareness raising.
• Future of urban water management, facing challenges related to climate change adaptation and ecological transition.
• Collaboration in research programmes such as Horizon 2020, Interreg, Life and the EU Green Deal.