Water Operators’ Partnership between World Waternet and Yarmouk Water Company

Upcoming activities

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the partnership started online, with both teams getting to know each other through digital meetings. On Thursday 24 June, the Dutch and Jordanian experts' teams will meet again online, but this time to prepare for their first physical site visit that will take place from 3 to 11 July to Irbid in Northern Jordan.

During this week, both teams will further strengthen their cooperation and update planning to catch-up with the delays caused by travel restrictions. The programme for the coming years will be reviewed, also during important visits to the Water Authority of Jordan and the Netherlands Embassy in Amman. Key activities of the capacity building programme will be prepared, focusing on the replacement of the sewage system in seven streets in Central Irbid and the upcoming training on inspection and cleaning of the sewage system. In September, a team of Dutch engineers from Waternet will follow-up with a more in-depth review of the sewage network and related training.

Capacity development programme

The capacity development programme between Yarmouk Water Company and World Waternet focuses on five specific areas:

• Rehabilitation of the wastewater networks of seven streets in Central Irbid.
• Training in preventive operation and maintenance, inspection and maintenance planning of the wastewater networks.
• Improvement of asset management of wastewater treatment plants and other wastewater infrastructure.
• Improved procurement and contracting procedures.
• Safety measures and procedures, including Covid-19 measures and customer communication.

Young Expert Programme

In the 3-year programme, the partnership will also work with- and train a local young expert with support from the Young Expert Programme () of the Netherlands Water Partnership. A programme that gives young professionals in the water (agri-food and energy) sector the opportunity to gain experience in their field and develop their personal skills and knowledge through coaching and training. The future generation of international water experts! The partnership will soon introduce their newly recruited Young Expert, Ayman Kassem, in more detail. Ayman will join the Waternet team during their upcoming visit in July and will continue to facilitate and enforce the partnership during visits.

Preparations

In the meantime, the team in the Netherlands is continuing with the implementation of the programme. For the first component, the rehabilitation of the wastewater network, an advanced GIS database has been analysed with the collected data from Yarmouk Water Company staff. Procedures for the actual procurement for the rehabilitation of the first street in Irbid have proceeded and an intensive Arabic language course has started for Waternet team.