Adiro, a company from Esslingen, develops materials for professional training in water technology. The transfer of knowledge to poor countries is particularly important to her.
The development of teaching materials and test components for vocational training and further training in water and wastewater technology: the automation company Adiro from Esslingen-Berkheim has been active in this field for years. The focus here is on knowledge and technology transfer in poor countries. The company made trial modes available for the World Skills Competition, which was held last week at the Stuttgart trade fair, among other things.
“The world championship of professions is only partly about showing who can best solve tasks in an international confrontation. Furthermore, the exchange of skills is of paramount importance. The common goal is to improve the training and recognition of qualified specialists around the world, “said Adiro CEO Klaus Kronberger on the sidelines of the competition.
80 percent of wastewater remains untreated
There, young people from seven countries worked on a series of identical experimental setups consisting of water tanks and pipe fittings, electronic components and switch boxes, cables, hoses, pumps and controllers, trying to solve problems related to the production of drinking water as quickly as possible and using as few resources as possible. In addition, technical discussions took place between developers, technicians and academics, most of whom came from countries in Africa and South Asia.
“About 80% of the world’s wastewater is untreated, pollutes the soil, rivers and groundwater and cannot be treated again,” said Kronberger. This is catastrophic, especially as some 2.2 billion people around the world lack access to clean water. Adiro is therefore committed to developing materials that can also be used to train water and wastewater technicians in poor countries. “Drinking water must be obtained in an economic, sustainable and resource-friendly way”.
Threatens the shortage of skilled labor
A visitor to the fair from India explained to him that the general economic conditions and, above all, the chances of survival for many millions of people in his country depend on adequate training in water technology, Kronenberger said. This is also important for rich Europe: “The supplies of drinking water are dwindling, many regions are drying up. Climate change is here, water and wastewater management is becoming an urgent problem for us too, the issue is keeping us under control ”. However, the shortage of skilled labor is taking on ever more threatening proportions. In the water supply of Lake Constance alone, more than 100 specialists would have to be replaced in the coming years and there was a shortage of personnel in many sewage treatment plants.
Wastewater technology and drinking water production are wrongly classified as unattractive. That’s why Kronenberger says, “It doesn’t sound very sexy when someone says they work in a wastewater treatment plant. But water and wastewater technology is a highly specialized future technology. It’s about people’s livelihoods. A an environmental engineer is therefore always a bit of a benefactor “.
