Water Operators Partnerships (WOPs) need stable funding in order to boost the involvement of public water operators in capacity development and knowledge sharing projects at international level.

This was one of the main conclusions of the session “Regional Water Operators for Global Cooperation”, which was organised by HAMBURG WASSER and the Hamburg Ministry for Environment, Climate, Energy and Agriculture on 7 October in the framework of the Hamburg Sustainability Conference.

Contributions made clear that there is a wealth of knowledge and capacities in the public sector that can be shared on a not-for-profit basis to strengthen the water sector worldwide, thus contributing to the achievement of #SDG6. Stable funding, coming from a plurality of sources – local, national, and transnational – is essential to ensure a sustained effort and the long-term commitment that effective WOPs require. Also, regulatory burdens that hamper trans-national cooperation between water operators should be removed.

Utilities’ representatives from Tanzania, Jordan, Ukraine, and South-Africa explained how WOPs helped them to increase efficiency, improve technology management, and increase resilience, ultimately liberating precious financial resources to increase investments.

CEO of Hamburg Wasser, Mr Ingo Hannemann, argued that participating in a WOP is “win-win” approach also for European utilities, as WOPs are two-ways learning opportunities and they help motivate staff, especially younger one. He added that an utility can work proactively to address some barriers, especially economic ones, in order to increase operators’ participation.

However a conducive regulatory and funding framework remains key. Representative from DG INTPA of the European Commission reminded the relevant contribution of the EU WOP programme but underlined the importance of combining it with local and national funding.

Representatives from the water sector, including APE, discussed then with officers from the German public administration about which funding schemes could work better to support WOPs – following also the examples of other countries such as the Netherlands and France – and how regulatory barriers could be overcome.

Conclusive remarks were given by Åsa Jonsson, Head of the Global Water Operators'​ Partnerships Alliance/UN-Habitat (GWOPA).