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FOREWORD
With the “Profile of the German Water Sector 2020”, ATT, BDEW, DBVW, DVGW, DWA, and VKU, in collaboration with the Association of German Cities and the German Association of Towns and Municipalities, have once more produced an upto-date overview of water supply and wastewater disposal in Germany. It enables the interested public and policy makers to learn all about the services the sector provides, the diversity of tasks it undertakes, and the current challenges it is facing. As with the four previous editions starting in 2005, the 2020 Water Sector Profile demonstrates that the modernisation strategy, pursued by politicians and the water sector alike, remains effective even under increasingly difficult conditions.
The Profile documents the high level of performance of the German water sector in comparison to other European countries and to the rest of the world. This high level which has been achieved so far, has to be maintained in the long term and - wherever possible and wherever necessary - improved. The associations encourage the continuous improvement process of companies through benchmarking and have long recommended that their members take part in benchmarking projects (Associations’ Joint Statement 2003 and 2005). Benchmarking means comparing and improving one’s own performance by learning from other participants in a peer group.
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Benchmarking, the transparent documentation of performance in the Water Sector Profile, and constant further development efforts are pillars of the sector’s continuous improvement, which it undertakes at its own responsibility. This approach has long been recognised and supported by the German Federal Government in its 2006 report entitled “Modernisation strategy for the German water sector”.