Public Water Utility VODOVOD-KANALIZACIJA Ljubljana, Slovenia
Project Partner 5
JP VO-KA is the largest company in Slovenia in terms of the number of users of the public drinking water supply system and the waste water drainage and treatment system.
JP VO_KA supplies drinking water to users through a modern water supply system according to the legislation and the latest supply standards. The drinking water is of good quality and supplied to users continuously and safely. In Ljubljana, drinking water runs via the water supply network to users from the natural environment, without any technical water preparation procedures, and is only chlorinated occasionally. On its way from the pumping stations to the users, it is not kept in the network for more than a few hours. JP VO-KA drafts long-term development plans for both public utility systems, designs projects in the area of water supply and sewage systems, participates in the preparation of expert bases and projects in relation to developments and amendments to the legislation, and also prepares awareness-raising and information campaigns.
JP VO-KA, as a project partner, represents a stakeholder, a public water supply company. The main drinking water resource is porous aquifer lying beneath the urbanised and agricultural areas, so conflicts between different stakeholders exist. In daily work the lack of communication between different stakeholders regarding land-use management in water protection areas is evident. Stakeholder involvement in land-use and flood/drought management as an integrated approach to protect drinking water is essential. JP VO-KA will be actively involved in national capacity building workshops with expertise, experiences and knowledge of the weaknesses in the system (WP T.1). Sources of drinking water to manage are different geological and geographical origin, so various problems are faced. Best practices are tested in WP T.2 considering the different ecosystem services on a new well field in Dravlje valley in Ljubljana, which is settled area with large open spaces adjacent to a Natural Park of hilly area. Because of its location in the suburbs of Ljubljana, there is also a high pressure on land use. Dravlje valley is also a flood area with not properly regulated surface waters coming from hinterland. Most of these waters are lead to the urban sewage system, which in high waters cannot receive so much water; on the other hand leading of surface waters to sewers is an adequate solution from the environmental point of view. In the future more frequent high waters are foreseen because of climate change; therefore solutions and measures for tackling this problem should be developed in WP T.3. For this, harmonized land use and water resources management is a prerequisite for quality of life and drinking water in this area; concerning this topic, JP VO-KA will give input to WP T.4.
Contact Person: Branka Bračič Železnik
