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Solutions
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Water analysis Conducting and evaluating physical-chemical and microbiological water testing in accordance with German Drinking Water Ordinance and other regulations.
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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.
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Treatment technologies Develop sustainable water supply concepts. Implement, monitor and optimise new technologies. Test and further develop existing treatment methods.
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Micropollutants and microorganisms Development and improvement of determination procedures. Investigating occurrence, behaviour and fate of inorganic and organic trace substances.
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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.
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Risk management Continuous support for water supply companies with risk management of water supply facilities based on comprehensive and long-standing expertise.
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Drinking water catchments and resources Protection of drinking water resources by assessing potential hazards in water catchment areas, catalogues of measures, monitoring concepts, databases
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Environmental biotechnology and contaminated sites Evaluation of the degradation potential at contaminated sites. Development of sustainable options for eliminating pollutants from the environment.
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Digitalisation Water demand forecast, Evaluation of water quality and quantity data, Regression and classification models, Machine learning, AI, Databases, GIS-application
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Practical projects Research and practice, water supply, scientific and technical expertise, technology concepts, resource protection, distribution network, digitalisation
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Research
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Resource protection Sustainable protection of water resources as an important factor for safe drinking water supply. Management of hazards and risks in water catchment areas.
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Environmental biotechnology Technical and biological methods for the elimination of microorganisms, microbiological degradation processes
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Microorganisms Developing and applying reliable and sensitive detection methods, evaluating disinfection and treatment measures
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Micropollutants Determination of micropollutants, transformation products and microplastics reliably and sensitively, investigate behaviour in the water cycle, qualified risk assessment
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Waste water and water cycle Use of biological decomposition, developing integrated water supply and waste water management concepts
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New technologies and products Testing and optimizing processes and products to treat, disinfect and post-process drinking water for efficiency, security and robustness
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Asset management and infrastructure Development of management strategies and innovative tools to evaluate the condition of the supply network and its components
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Safety and security, digitalisation and management Digital transformation in public drinking water supply, increase the safety and security of drinking water supply
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- 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 risk management process: The steps are carried out in close coordination with the involved utility company and are adapted to local requirements in terms of scope and level of detail.
What do we offer?
The concept TZW_RISK
Our concept „TZW_RISK“ complies with the legal requirements and is based on the generally accepted rules of technology. To this end, it consolidates expertise from the relevant TZW departments. Thanks to its modular structure, TZW_RISK is flexible and can be adapted to local conditions and task allocation between TZW and the supplier. Another advantage for our customers is that they only have one contact person at TZW who coordinates the process internally.
The TZW_Risk concept is very flexible thanks to its modular structure (click to enlarge graphic)
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 all relevant regulatory and legal frameworks like:
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)
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.; 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
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 moreConsequences 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 moreClimate neutrality in drinking water supply (Carb(H2O)N)
In these days, climate neutrality is becoming a major topic and is also gaining importance in the drinking water supply sector. In the project,…
Read more