Archived News Release: February 28, 2024 -
On February 15, the Water Treatment Plant (WTP) staff had a visit from seven members of the German Bodensee-Wasserversorgung executive leadership team. For those of you not up on your German, Wasserversorgung means Water Supply, which is just one of many things WTP staff learned during the visit.
The Bondensee Wasserversorgung is the largest water supply in Germany, serving more than 4 million customers in southwest Germany. They draw their water from Lake Constance, a beautiful lake located in the southwestern corner of Germany, at the foot of the Alps. Not too shabby of a location! The delegation visited several water systems in the Midwest – Chicago, Green Bay Milwaukee and Ann Arbor - to gather information about how supplies here manage invasive nuisance mussels at our intakes to prevent clogging of our intakes and pipes. One of their largest customers is Tubingen, Ann Arbor’s sister City, and we learned that it was Tubingen who recommended they visit Ann Arbor while in the United States. They were pleasantly surprised to learn about our treatment for mussels, which is different than the other water supplies they visited.
Staff gave them a tour of the WTP intake facility and treatment plant, participated in a lively discussion about quagga and zebra mussels and chatted about American football – Go Lions! Staff also discussed differences in our treatment and water distribution systems. Like Ann Arbor, Bondensee Wasserversorgung is dealing with aging infrastructure, impacts of changing climate and challenges posed by nuisance species like quagga mussels and contaminants like PFAS. Also like Ann Arbor, they are in the planning stages for a very large scale facility upgrade. After Ann Arbor, the delegation headed to the Great Lakes Water Research Center in Buffalo.
