Climate change is underway, and water infrastructures are under increasing stress. With growing frequency, catastrophic floods, droughts, and other crises hit utilities in wildly varying states of preparedness. Water service managers who are not totally up-to-date on crisis management strategies, planning and preparations are the key target group of the Water Safety Planning and Crisis Management program (WSP) provided by the Danube Learning Partnership. With three established WSP Hubs in North Macedonia, Albania and Kosovo, it is one of the most successful D-LeaP programs. Given the strong interst in the region, another Training of Trainers recently took place in Vienna preparing five trainers to roll-out hte porgram.

On 17 March, five future trainers gathered at the IAWD Headquarter in Vienna for a condensed four-day course that took them trough risk management basics, the course materials and contents of crisis management basic training and the related exercises.

Led by Christian Plohberger, CEO of the IAWD member company and Technical Partner Protectum Solutions, the participants took a deep dive into the theme, discussing how to manage risks under normal operation and under disaster events, how to prepare and apply Water Safety Planning and Crisis Management tools in utilities, how to implement Business Continuity Management, how to scale crisis management solutions up or down to fit the needs of individual water supply systems, and how to conceptualize cooperation with relevant national and local institutions for mutual aid and assistance in crisis situations.

The participants left Vienna fully ready to pass on their knowledge in training courses delivered by the D-LeaP Hubs in their national languages. In 2025, four Hubs in total will deliver the WSP in Albania, Bulgaria, Kosovo and North Macedonia.

 If you are interested in WSP&CM and other D-LeaP courses, please consult the D-LeaP Hubs to get on overview of programs delivered in your country.