Celebrating World Water Day and Indonesian twinning partnership

To mark this year’s World Water Day, Yarra Valley Water staff are celebrating the successes of an international partnership between Indonesia and Australia, now entering its third year. 

This partnership builds capacity and fosters knowledge sharing between water utilities. 

Yarra Valley Water Managing Director Pat McCafferty said the partnership with PDAM Tirta Musi, one of the largest utility companies in Indonesia, was delivering impactful outcomes for both organisations.

“The Twinning Program provides an opportunity to make a positive difference beyond our own service area to address common water sector challenges and work towards achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals,” Mr McCafferty said.

“The partnership gives Tirta Musi staff in Sumatra greater confidence and capability to reduce water losses, improve water resilience, enhance energy efficiency, and provide safe, inclusive workplaces. It’s also brought enormous benefits for us, providing an excellent opportunity to better understand and respond to water security challenges and build mentoring capacity,” he said.

“The Tirta Musi team has had the opportunity to learn from our team out in the field, observing our protected catchment systems and ways of working to help them design and implement their own action plan.”

The University of Technology Sydney (UTS) found the main benefits of the Twinning Program partnership included implementing new processes, technologies, and learning and knowledge. Specific achievements of the partnership include:

• Improved non-revenue water
• Ongoing development of an asset database
• Building the planning skills for a long- term strategy.1

 

As part of the Twinning Program, both Yarra Valley Water and Tirta Musi teams visited their counterparts and were able to build their mentoring skills, reflect on mutual challenges and share insights.

Reflecting on the Twinning Program to date, Nova Irawati, Project Manager in Asset Delivery said, “The Twinning program in Indonesia has given me great insight into the art of mentoring as well as exposure to the different challenges faced by Tirta Musi and how we can offer support.”

Yarra Valley Water is committed to the Twinning Program as a practical contribution to the UN Global Compact and is working to advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 

The SDGs provide a global context for how Yarra Valley Water’s activities contribute to a more sustainable and liveable future. This includes accelerating its response to climate change through the exchange of knowledge and skills, building on Yarra Valley Water’s previous work with PDAM Gianyar in Bali during 2020-22 and prior to that with Haiphong Water Supply in Vietnam.

Specifically, the Twinning program delivers on Sustainable Development Goals:

• SDG6 – clean water and sanitation for all. Access to essential services enables people to unlock their potential and creates more productive and healthier communities.
• SDG10 – reduce inequalities.
• SDG13 – climate action.
• SDG17 – partnering with others.

 

The Twinning Program is facilitated by the Australian Water Association and supported by the Australian Water Partnership in collaboration with Indonesian based PERPAMSI.