-
Solutions
-
Water analysis Conducting and evaluating physical-chemical and microbiological water testing in accordance with German Drinking Water Ordinance and other regulations. -
Testing of products and devices Initial testing of products and materials in contact with drinking water. The test centre is accredited for more than 200 product standards. -
Treatment technologies Develop sustainable water supply concepts. Implement, monitor and optimise new technologies. Test and further develop existing treatment methods. -
Micropollutants and microorganisms Development and improvement of determination procedures. Investigating occurrence, behaviour and fate of inorganic and organic trace substances. -
Network management and drinking water installation Advice on safeguarding the quality of drinking water in the distribution system, support in the development of specific network management strategies. -
Risk management Supporting water supply companies in setting up continuous risk management for water supply facilities, based on our comprehensive expertise. -
Drinking water catchments and resources Protection of drinking water resources by assessing potential hazards in water catchment areas, catalogues of measures, monitoring concepts, databases. -
Environmental biotechnology and contaminated sites Environmental biotechnology to improve water quality. Degradation processes for water purification. Concepts and studies for pollutant contamination. -
Digitalisation Solving complex questions and problems of water supply companies in digitalisation through technical support or practical research projects. -
Practical projects Research and practice, water supply, scientific and technical expertise, technology concepts, resource protection, distribution network, digitalisation.
-
-
Research
-
Resource protection Sustainable resource protection as an important factor for safe drinking water supply. Management of hazards and risks in water catchment areas. -
Environmental biotechnology Technical and biological methods for the elimination of microorganisms, microbiological degradation processes, risk assessment of microbial contamination. -
Microorganisms Application and development of reliable detection methods for microorganisms in drinking water, evaluation of disinfection and treatment measures. -
Micropollutants Reliable and sensitive determination of trace substances and microplastics, investigation of the behaviour in the water cycle, qualified risk assessment. -
Waste water and water cycle Development of integrated water supply and waste water disposal concepts, Utilisation of biodegradation processes to eliminate persistent substances. -
New technologies and products Technologies and products for the treatment, disinfection and post-treatment of drinking water, testing for performance, safety and robustness. -
Asset management and infrastructure Development of asset management strategies to ensure a stable supply of high-quality drinking water, assessment of the condition of pipeline networks. -
Safety and security, digitalisation and management Digitalisation in the areas of data collection, data management, data-driven applications and IT security. Artificial intelligence and blockchain.
-
- Projects
- About TZW
- Information
Risk management
In June 2023, the new Drinking Water Ordinance (“Trinkwasserverordnung”, TrinkwV) came into force in Germany. Since then, water supply companies are obligated, among other things, to implement continuous risk management for water supply facilities (§ 34 TrinkwV). At TZW, we support water suppliers in setting up such a risk management system in accordance with DIN-EN 15975-2, drawing on our many years of experience: Risk management in water supply has been a key issue for TZW for 20 years. Risk management for the catchment area holds a separate position in risk management. This will become even more important with the new Drinking Water Catchment Area Ordinance (Trinkwassereinzugsgebieteverordnung, TrinkwEGV) of 4 December 2023. Accordingly, the documents for the assessment of the catchment area must be submitted to the competent authority by 12 November 2025.
The project steps (see Fig. 1) are carried out in close coordination with the utility company involved and are adapted to local requirements in terms of scope and level of detail.
Figure 1: Steps in the risk management process.
RiskPlus software solution
RiskPlus Logo
RiskPlus makes it possible to set up a risk management system from a single source - from the catchment area to delivery to the consumer. The web-based software offers all the necessary elements to fulfil the risk management requirements of the Drinking Water Ordinance and Drinking Water Catchment Area Ordinance. By integrating a WebGIS, numerous helpful functionalities are available with which events and risks can be mapped and analysed spatially. The software solution contains basic data for hazard carriers as well as extensive proposals for hazard events and measures. RiskPlus will be released in August 2024 with a focus on the TrinkwEGV.
The concept TZW_RISK
Our "TZW_RISK" concept fulfils the legal requirements and is based on the generally recognised rules of technology. To this end, it combines expertise from the relevant TZW departments and specialist areas. Thanks to its modular structure (see Fig. 2), TZW_RISK can be flexibly adapted to local conditions and the distribution of tasks between TZW and WVU. Another advantage for our customers is that they only have one contact person at TZW that coordinates the development of the risk management system internally. In the future, TZW_RISK will be processed using the RiskPlus software solution.
Figure 2. TZW-concept TZW_RISK.
Figure 2: TZW-concept TZW_RISK.
What do we offer?
Further services relating to risk management in the water sector
- Risk management systems for the entire supply system in accordance with §34 TrinkwV and DIN EN 15975-2 or DVGW W1001 (M)
- Specia case: Risk management in the catchment area in accordance with TrinkwEGV or DVGW-Information Wasser No. 105
- Development and support for the introduction of risk management in water supply companies
- Proposals for adapting or maintaining the monitoring plan in accordance with TrinkwV § 37 [formerly: Risk-based adaptation of the sampling plan (RAP)]
- Criticality and vulnerability analyses
- Resilience analyses, e.g. in accordance with DVGW W1003 (A), BBK-funded project KRITIS-GIS_T
- Climate change adaption, e.g. our current DVGW-funded project ResilJetzt!
TZW's work is based, among other things, on:
- Drinking Water Ordinance (“Trinkwasserverordnung”, TrinkwV), especially §34 and §35 TrinkwV
- Drinking Water Catchment Areas Ordinance (“Trinkwassereinzugsgebieteverordnung, TrinkwEGV)
- DIN EN 15975-2: Security of drinking water supply - Guidelines for risk and crisis management - Part 2: Risk management (December 2013)
- DVGW W1001 (M): Security in drinking water supply - Risk and crisis management (November 2020)
- DVGW-Information WASSER No. 105: Security in drinking water supply - Risk management in normal operation for catchment areas of groundwater wells for drinking water abstraction (January 2021)
- DVGW W1003 (A): Resilience and security of supply in the public water supply (June 2022)
Information und Links
Methods and equipment
- Data analysis and scientific evaluations, document review
- Analyses of water quality data
- Site and facility inspections, meetings with authorities & stakeholder workshops
- Geographic Information Systeme (GIS) for analyses of water catchments (ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Desktop, QGIS)
- Expertise in accordance with theTrinkwV § 35 or TrinkwEGV § 13 (Documentation of relevant university education, professional experience, or training is available)
Publications
Sturm, S.; Brauer, F.; Hegewald, T.; Freier, K.: (2022) Risk Assessment and Implementing Risk Management for a Complex Drinking Water Reservoir-System in Saxony, Germany. Water Safety Conference 2022. Narvik 22-24 June 2022. Conference Proceedings. pp. 97-98; Editors: International Water Association (IWA), World Health Organization (WHO), UiT the Arctic University of Norway, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden.
Rickert, B.; Zügner, V.; Sturm, S.; Brauer, F. (2022): Germany’s Way to WSP Through Policy Actions and Technical Standards. Water Safety Conference 2022. Narvik 22-24 June 2022. Conference Proceedings. pp. 66-68; Editors: International Water Association (IWA), World Health Organization (WHO), UiT the Arctic University of Norway, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden.
Brauer, F.; Sturm, S.; Kaupe, M.; Schiffman, S. (2022): Risk Assessment for Groundwater Catchment Areas. Water Safety Conference 2022. Narvik 22-24 June 2022. Conference Proceedings. pp. 101-102; Editors: International Water Association (IWA), World Health Organization (WHO), UiT the Arctic University of Norway, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden.
Brauer, F.; Sturm, S.; Fischer, T.; Gottwalt, J.; Hahne, L. (2022): Web-Based Software Application for Risk Management of Drinking-Water Supplies. Water Safety Conference 2022. Narvik 22-24 June 2022. Conference Proceedings. pp. 124-125; Editors: International Water Association (IWA), World Health Organization (WHO), UiT the Arctic University of Norway, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden.
Brauer, F.; Sturm, S.; Hegewald, T.; Freier, K.: (2021): Risikomanagement für ein komplexes Talsperrensystem. DVGW energie | wasser-praxis 05/2021, 72-77.
Brauer, F.; Sturm, S.; Kaupe, M.; Schiffmann, S. (2019): Mehrwert des Risikomanagements für den Wasserversorger. DVGW energie | wasser-praxis 12/2019, 53-55.
Riegel, M.: Kritikalitätsanalyse für Objekte der Trinkwasserversorgung. In: Zukunftsthemen der Wasserversorgung. Veröffentlichungen aus dem Technologiezentrum Wasser 90, ISSN 1434-5765, 117-133 (2019): Identifizierung kritischer Infrastrukturen in der Wasserversorgung (KRITISGIS-T); Projekt im Auftrag des Bundesamts für Bevölkerungsschutz und Katastrophenhilfe (BBK); (2017 – 2020).
Sturm, S.: Sicherheit in der Trinkwasserversorgung – Water Safety Plans als Instrument zum Risikomanagement. In: Risiken in der Wasserversorgung. Stuttgarter Berichte zur Siedlungswasserwirtschaft., Bd. 235, 35-46 (2017).
Brauer, F.; Bethmann, D.; Kaupe, M.; Schiffmann, S. (2015): Risikomanagement für ein Kölner Wasserwerk. DVGW energie | wasser-praxis (6), S. 42–50.
Umweltbundesamt(UBA) und TZW [Hg.]; Schmoll, O.; Bethmann, D.; Sturm, S.; Schnabel, B. (2014): Das Water-Safety-Plan-Konzept: Ein Handbuch für kleine Wasserversorgungen. Dessau-Roßlau. https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/sites/default/files/medien/374/publikationen/wps-handbuch-web.pdf.
Contact
Projects
Sampling of groundwater
Assessment of nitrate contamination in groundwater (ArNO)
The revision of nitrate comtaminated areas (so-called "Rote Gebiete") is currently the subject of debate. In some areas, farmers and water suppliers…
Read more[Translate to English:]
Impact of climate change on groundwater availability in Germany (GW_Impact)
To investigate the increasing spatio-temporal variability of groundwater recharge in the future, both locally and regionally, and its specific effects…
Read moreDreisam near Freiburg
Consequences of heavy rainfall and dry periods (RiQO)
In order to counteract future negative impacts of extreme weather events on the water quality of stream waters, practical prevention and management…
Read more