Summer 2020 was full of activities in our cross-border project Action to increase energy and water efficiency of water supply services in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro.
Overall objective of the project is to strengthen sustainable development in the cross-border area by implementing common actions on improving resource efficiency in the water supply sector. The project is tailor-made to connect, build capacities and showcase water and energy interventions in this sector. It targets 70 municipalities and 62 water supply utilities from cross-border area between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro.
So far, our team visited and initiated hydraulic measurements in our pilot utilities Kotor, Foča – Ustikolina, Visoko and Herceg Novi which are engaged in pilot demonstrational actions (defining a set of intervention on the distribution network which will contribute to the greatest possible overall improvement of service quality and help them to improve its capacity to manage the network in the future; development of technical strategies that showcase the potential for energy and water conservation and encourage other utilities to implement the same steps in their own water systems including trainings for use of provided leak detection equipment to boost implementation of long-term water and energy efficiency measures).
“Detecting problems and related losses in the water supply network followed by new technical solutions proposed within the project will have beneficial impact on water loss and energy consumption reduction, given the current use of pumps for water distribution”, said Admir Borović, the director of PUC “Ušće” Foča – Ustikolina.
“The reasons for current situation are mostly known, but we now primarily need to deal with finding an adequate and long – term solution to improve the baseline status. By participating in the project, we are getting access to the most sophisticated detection equipment and best local experts that will provide us with significant experience from technical but also organizational point of view. This will enable our Detection Service in their continuous independent efforts to successfully deal with loss reduction”, said Dragan Vlatković, manager of electrical and mechanical maintenance in PUC “Vodovod i kanalizacija” Herceg Novi.
The team also had the opportunity to present the Action to key stakeholders in Montenegro and BiH, define their roles in the project and raise key issues that we will address during the three project networking conferences, first being planned as a virtual event for October 2020.
In collaboration with the local energy and water experts the standard operating procedures were prepared, that will guide utilities in their effort to improve resource efficiency and become more sustainable. As the last activity for first project year, specially designed practical and theoretical modular training for 70 water utility representatives is being prepared. The modular will contain all necessary information on how to properly use prepared procedures.
The project started on December 1st 2019 and will be implemented in the next 2 years by Center for energy, environment and resources – CENER 21 (Bosnia and Herzegovina) and Montenegrin center for energy efficiency – CCEE (Montenegro). The project is expected to strengthen the capacity of water supply companies and connect all relevant stakeholders in this sector. The implementation of the project includes 70 municipalities in an area between Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Find out more about Action to increase energy and water efficiency of water supply services at the project’s website, explore the knowledge platform, exchange experience through online forum and engage in project’s campaign on social media: Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.