This month of October 2020, and under the guidance of the Dutch Oasen, the WaterWorX WOP in Indonesia will start building a 10-kilometer long water pipe.

About 1,300 house connections for the regions of Jenar and Tangen, which do not yet have access to drinking water, will be built on this new pipeline.

During a field visit at a well of the Indonesian water company Perumda Sragen, Harrie Timmer, hydrologist at WaterWorX mentor utility Oasen, saw how employees desperately tried to get sand out of the wells. In vain.

A tapestry on the wall and comfortable chairs create a homely atmosphere in the newly opened customer room. With what seemingly small changes to a business space, WaterWorX Indonesian local utility Perumda Sragen took a big step.

Allowing data from different systems to appear in one dashboard without manual work. That is the challenge that Angela van den Berg, Information Architect at Oasen, in The Netherlands, is taking up with the WaterWorX team from the Indonesian partner water company Perumda Sragen.

The project kicked off to a good start at the beginning of 2020 during a company visit by van den Berg in Indonesia. Unfortunately, the Coronavirus threw a spanner in the works and the follow-up had to continue online.

WWX organized 4-half-day webinars to present and reflect on the results of the WOPs implemented throughout Africa, Asia and South America

To increase access to sustainable water services for 10 million by 2030. This is the ultimate goal of the WaterWorX (WWX) Programme, launched in 2017, which consists of Water Operator Partnerships (WOPs) between Dutch and local water utilities co-funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (DGIS).

Access to water is essential to contain the spread of COVID-19. This crisis emphasizes once again the importance of having utilities providing us all with safe water and sanitation in a sustainable manner.

Measures to prevent Coronavirus in cities, informal settlements or slums are being taken. Water utilities around the world are working hard and supporting their peers in an act of global solidarity.

This is the case of Waternet and Société Malienne de Gestion de l'eau Potable (SOMAGEP). The first, from The Netherlands; the latter, from Mali.