Sustainability Performance in the Water Supply
In order to render the sustainability performance of German water utilities measurable and evaluable, the team identified operational figures which it compiled into a catalogue.
Research approach
This catalogue then served as a socio-ecological rating system which provided a basis for surveys within the companies involved. In collaboration with its corporate partners, the team used the system to prepare a sustainability report. The 'Successful Communication of Sustainability Performance' handout now provides the sector with an effective tool, illustrating how water utilities can apply the rating system and use it to credibly communicate their achievements in the field of sustainability.
Background
Water utilities are faced with the challenge of finding a way to communicate their sustainability performance in a way that is credible both to insiders and to the outside world. This calls for an adequate means of measuring and evaluating their sustainability track record.
Project partners
- IWW Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wasserforschung gemeinnützige GmbH
- Arbeitsgruppe für regionale Struktur- und Umweltforschung GmbH (ARSU)
- Kommunale Wasserwerke Leipzig GmbH
- Städtische Werke AG, Kassel
- Oldenburgisch-Ostfriesischer Wasserverband
Funding
Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)
Publications
Schramm, Engelbert (2008): Erfolgreiche Kommunikation von Nachhaltigkeitsleistungen. In: IWW Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wasserforschung gemeinnützige GmbH (Hg.): Prozesskennzahlen und Benchmarking. Perspektiven einer nachhaltigen Wasserwirtschaft. Dokumentation zum 21. Mülheimer Wassertechnischen Seminar vom 06.03.2008. Berichte aus dem IWW, 47. Mülheim an der Ruhr: Eigenverlag, 151-168
Schramm, Engelbert (2007): "Nachhaltigkeitsleistungen erfolgreich kommunizieren". Eine Handreichung für die Trinkwasserversorgung. Unter Mitarbeit von Nadine Staben. ISOE-Materialien Soziale Ökologie, 25. Frankfurt am Main: ISOE - Institut für sozial-ökologische Forschung
Duration
Contact person
Project team
Research focus
Water Infrastructure and Risk AnalysesRelated projects
- Assessment of the potential for the use of service water in Frankfurt am Main
- BioFAVOR II – Low-tech recycling of faeces from decentralised sources
- Classification of consumption points in the supply area of HAMBURG WASSER
- Competence Atlas Water – Water Technologies and Water Management in Hesse
- CuveWaters – Sustainable Water Management in Namibia
- Daily drinking water demand – forecast model for Hamburg
- Efficient Use of the Hessian Groundwater Fee
- Eliminating micropollutants in sewage plants
- Environmental Risks and Pharmaceuticals: The Key Role of Pharmacies
- EPoNa – Water Reuse in Northern Namibia
- Evaluation of the International Water Stewardship Program (IWaSP)
- Guiding principle IWRM – Water resources management for the metropolitan region of Rhine-Main
- HypoWave – New Pathways Towards Wastewater Re-Use in Agriculture
- INTAFERE – Integrated Analysis of Organic Impurities in Rivers
- IntenKS – Improving sewage sludge treatment in China for energetic and material utilisation
- INTERESS-I – Integrated strategies to strengthen urban blue-green infrastructures
- IWRM in Isfahan – Sustainable Water Management in Iran
- Material flows of environmentally relevant chemical substances: product line controlling
- MULTI-ReUse – Modular treatment system for water reuse
- NaCoSi – Sustainability controlling of the domestic water management
- netWORKS – Transformations in Network Related Infrastructure Sectors
- netWORKS 2 – Transformation Management for a Sustainable Water Infrastructure
- netWORKS 3 – Sustainable concepts for the municipal water sector
- netWORKS 4 – Resilient networks: how urban supply systems contribute to climate justice
- New perspectives for the ecological restoration of streams and rivers
- NiddaMan – Sustainable Water Resources Management in the Nidda Catchment Area
- PLASTRAT – Reduction of plastic discharges in lakes and running waters
- PlastX – Microplastics in bodies of running water
- PlastX – Plastic waste in seas and oceans
- Privatisation and Competition in Drinking Water Supply in Germany
- Privatisation in the Water Sector
- Proxies and Scenarios for the Development of Water Demand
- Regional Sustainability in Water and Land Use
- SASSCAL – Research Infrastructure in Africa
- SASSCAL – Water-related vulnerabilities and risk in Southern Africa
- SAUBER+ Innovative concepts for wastewater from public health sector facilities
- Semizentral – Infrastructure systems for cities of the future experiencing rapid growth
- Smart Water Future India: Intelligent Water Management for India’s Cities
- start – Management Strategies for Pharmaceuticals in Drinking Water
- start2 – Management Strategies for Hormonally Active Agrochemicals
- Stormwater Infiltration in Wiesbaden
- Structural concept for Trinkwasserversorgung Magdeburg
- TransRisk – Pollutants as a risk to the water cycle
- Water 2050 – Sustainable Innovations for Water Management
- Water Cycle an Urban-Ecological Development
- Water demand forecast 2030 for Hamburg
- Water demand forecast 2045 for Hamburg
- Water demand forecast 2050 for Hamburg
- Weschnitz Dialog: Communication and participation in the management of restoration measures along the river Weschnitz