Program description and covered topics

Lack of response mechanisms to pollution outbreaks and increasingly frequent natural disasters such as floods and droughts hinder the ability of water supply utilities to sustainably provide their services, hence posing a risk to national public health.

Through this program, supported utilities learn how to identify operational hazards and how to plan, prepare and respond to these incidents for fast response and recovery in the event of a crisis or disaster. In addition, practitioners receive practical scenario-based training for decision-making under uncertainty. In the course of 2020, it has been updated to also incorporate the response mechanisms to a pandemic, such as COVID-19.

The Program has been developed at the regional level in cooperation with the Technical Partner, the Infraprotect consortium with Energie AG Wasser, Vienna Water and the Austrian Association for Gas and Water ÖVGW, and is delivered by national or regional Hubs in local language. The duration of the Program is approximately one year, and it consists of workshops as well as hands-on exercises at the utilities themselves with support of the trainers. Participating utilities pay a registration fee, which is communicated by the Hub.

Learning goals

How to manage risks under normal operation and under disaster events?
How to prepare and apply Water Safety Planning and Crisis Management tools in operations of your water supply system?
How to implement Business Continutity Management (BCM) in operations of your water supply system?
How to scale crisis management solutions up or down to fit the needs of organisations of any size of a water supply system?
How to conceptualize a way of cooperation with relevant nationaland local institutions for mutual aid and assistance?

Hubs