A conference was held today in Zagreb to present the results of the Technical Assistance Programme “Support for Water Loss Reduction within the Water Sector Reform in the Republic of Croatia”, organised by the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development, the World Bank, the European Commission’s Directorate General for Structural Reform Support and Croatian Waters. The conference was attended by Davor Filipović, Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, Jehan Arulpragasam, Director of the World Bank Office in Croatia, and Natalie Berger, Director of the Directorate General for Structural Reform Support at the European Commission; Elizabeta Kos, the Director of the Directorate for Water Management and Marine Protection; Mario Šiljeg, the Director of the Josip Juraj Strossmayer Water Institute; Zoran Đuroković, the Director General of Croatian Waters; as well as public water service providers and national and international experts.

The conference provided a platform for the presentation of results and discussion on the importance of water loss reduction activities for the entire water sector in Croatia and the risks of climate change. All participants had the opportunity to learn about international experiences and examples of best practises in similar modernisation processes in the sector.

On this occasion, Minister Filipović emphasised that water, along with food and energy, is a crucial prerequisite for life in every region, and the ongoing climate changes underline the importance of preserving water resources even more. “The Republic of Croatia is rich in clean water for human consumption, which imposes on us the responsibility to be particularly careful with water and to effectively manage water collection and distribution systems. With this project, we are moving towards improving water distribution systems and significantly reducing losses,” emphasised Filipović.

The methodology for reducing losses in the water supply is based on improving the knowledge of public water suppliers about their own water supply systems, the users of the systems and raising awareness of the problem of losses in the water supply through the education of employees, as Dr Šiljeg, the director of the Water Institute, mentioned during today’s presentations. He emphasised that the Josip Juraj Strossmayer Water Institute, in addition to monitoring surface and groundwater as well as transitional and coastal waters, also has an educational function.

The Water Institute is responsible for the development and implementation of a curriculum for the continuous professional development of employees of public water service providers and for the organisation of an evaluation system and the issuance of certificates for completed training courses on the basis of Article 7, paragraph 2 of the Regulation on Special Conditions for the Provision of Water Services,” Šiljeg explained.

As a reminder, as part of the reform of the water supply sector, the Government of the Republic of Croatia has initiated important activities aimed at reducing water losses in the public water supply and increasing capacity to improve the operational efficiency and financial sustainability of the Croatian public water supply system, as well as increasing the security and resilience of the water supply sector across the country.