One of the groups actively involved into the implementation of IWAMA activities includes local water and wastewater associations and environmental centres of different levels and target audiences. In the project, we refer to them as the national knowledge-based communities of water experts. With the accumulated knowledge, familiarity with country-specific practices and developed lifelong learning approaches, these communities are equipped to disseminate the information further to other target groups including WWTP operators, water field students, local authorities and governmental officials, and other.
In IWAMA project, national knowledge-based communities (NKBC) are the active participants of the Capacity development Work Package, which aims at transferring knowledge and expertise across the borders. Every NKBC tailors the capacity building activities to the needs of their country.
Operators’ Experiences
EVEL (Estonian Waterworks Association) is one of the NKBCs in the IWAMA project. On 20–21 April 2017 they organized for their members a piloting seminar “Operators’ Experiences” that was held in Varbla Holiday Village. The seminar was aimed at representatives from the Estonian water companies: EVEL is positive that involving operational local stakeholders needs to be done in an interactive way. The aim of this event was to “break the ice” for the operators and invite them to communicate to each other, share the problems and produce solutions together. As a NKBC, through events similar to this, EVEL can collect feedback about operators needs and evaluate the usability of such peer cooperation in the future.
For the occasion, the IWAMA leaflet was issued in Estonian language (available for downloading).
During the seminar, the Engineering Adviser of EVEL Lauri Lagle introduced to the operators of their network the latest developments in IWAMA. The focus was made on promoting the lifelong learning of wastewater treatment operators and developing alternatives for interaction between operators from the countries around the Baltic Sea.
The lifelong learning topic also had a practical application. During the introduction of the vocational training possibilities for water treatment operators, the Managing Director of EVEL Vahur Tarkmees presented the training programme in Järvamaa. A new 2-year vocational training for water and wastewater operators will start in Järvamaa Vocational Training Centre from the 1st of September 2017, and, after completing the curriculum, operators can apply for the qualification certificate based on this training.
The seminar also included a site visit to the nearby wastewater treatment works, discharge point and a water treatment plant in Varbla settlement organized by AS Matsalu Veevärk.
National knowledge-based communities are the source of knowledge in the countries of the Baltic Sea as well as the contact points for the capacity building activities on the national level. We hope that NKBCs, which are developing in parallel with IWAMA and equip themselves with materials, tools and piloting experiences created in the project, will apply the improved lifelong learning practices to further increase their training effectiveness.
