Hamburg – St. Petersburg: cooperation in water sector

Summary

The information on the cooperation between municipal water utilities – Hamburg Wasser and State Unitary Enterprise «Vodokanal of St. Petersburg» is presented. St. Petersburg is an economic, research and cultural centre, major transport hub and big sea port of the North-Western region of Russia. The city produces a substantial impact on the environment and water quality of the Baltic Sea. Hamburg is the second big German city and one of the biggest European ports. Hamburg and St. Petersburg since long have been bound by trading relations that provided for establishing the first German-Russian commonwealth of twinned cities. At present this background forms the framework for the cooperation of Hamburg Wasser and Vodokanal of St. Petersburg, the companies that provide for drinking water supply, wastewater disposal and wastewater sludge utilization. In this respect mutual exchange of experience in the field of operation upgrade and optimization, improvement of operation and power efficiency of the public water supply and wastewater networks and facilities as well as in the field of improving the existing regulatory framework is of high value. The requirements to the protection of the water bodies are extremely high for both companies, therefore both in Hamburg and St. Petersburg large-scale wastewater collection systems are under construction. All the Hamburg Wasser water and wastewater treatment facilities are fully independent of external power supply. At present in Vodokanal of St. Petersburg energy optimization of the pumping stations and upgrade of the wastewater treatment facilities operation are carried out.

Key words

losses of water , water supply , power saving , water disposal , specific water consumption