Water Industry Profile: DVGW

Facts for the political discussion in Europe/

German companies further extend high performance standards

Brussels, 24 June 2008

- The German water industry has been able to increase further its performance standard and its economic efficiency. Customer satisfaction rose. Fur-thermore, the supply of drinking water and the disposal of waste water reached exem-plary values in an international comparison. This is shown in the new "Profile of the German Water Industry 2008". The six publisher associations* presented the English issue of the new publication on Tuesday in Brussels. The report, consisting of 105 pages, provides for the second time a comprehensive picture of the performances and standards of the German water industry. The first profile was submitted in 2006.

"The profile fulfils the wish of the public and the politicians to make the services relating to water supply and sewage treatment transparent. We shall be interested to see whether similar projects will become established throughout Europe" said Tanja Gönner, Minister for the Environment of the federal German state Baden-Württemberg at the presentation of the new report. It is very gratifying that there has been a high increase in the number of bench-marking projects, both nationally and in the regions.

According to the information of the associations, 750 water utility companies and 1 300 companies from the sector of waste water disposal participated voluntarily in the pro-jects. That means, in comparison to 2005, an increase of 15 percent. Both the individual ratios and also whole businesses and branches were compared. In addition, processes were analysed in order to develop potential for improvement.

"The German water industry invested about seven billion Euro in infrastructure in 2006," emphasised the associations. The branches, they stated, were thus a significant em-ployment motor for medium-sized industry. In a European comparison, according to the associations, Germany boasts a high quality of pipe networks, and has the lowest water losses during transport to the consumers. "It was possible to reduce the losses once more since 1998 from about eight to nearly seven percent of the gross volume of water," declared the associations. That, they claimed, was by far the lowest value in Europe. Also in the area of waste water disposal, Germany, with a level of connections to the public sewer network of 96 percent, lies at the top of the European league. The sewer network, it was reported, has been expanded by around six percent to a length of 515 000 kilometres since 2001.

*Association of Drinking Water from Reservoirs (Arbeitsgemeinschaft Trinkwassertalsperren e.V. – ATT), Gummersbach; German Association of Energy and Water Industries (Bundesverband der Energie- und Wasserwirtschaft e. V. – BDEW), Berlin; German Alliance of Water Management Associations (Deutscher Bund verbandlicher Wasserwirtschaft e. V. – DBVW), Hannover; German Technical and Scientific Association for Gas and Water (Deutsche Vereinigung des Gas- und Wasserfaches e. V. Technisch-wissenschaftlicher Verein – DVGW), Bonn; German Association for Water, Wastewater and Waste (Deutsche Vereinigung für Wasserwirtschaft, Abwasser und Abfall e. V. – DWA), Hennef; Association of Local Utilities (Verband kommunaler Unternehmen e. V. – VKU), Berlin

"Profile of the German Water Industry 2008”

Issuing Associations: ATT, BDEW, DBVW, DVGW, DWA, VKU

2008, 108 pages, DIN A4, adhesive binding

Price: 29.80 €

Further information:

Arbeitsgemeinschaft Trinkwassertalsperren e.V. (ATT)

Prof. Dr. Lothar Scheuer, phone +49 2261 36-210, s@aggerverband.de, www.trinkwassertalsperren.de

Bundesverband der Energie- und Wasserwirtschaft (BDEW)

Patricia Nicolai, phone +49 30 726147-330/331,

presse(at)bdew.de , www.bdew.de