The wastewater infrastructure in Kosovo is in poor condition. Wastewater from settlement areas usually enters surface waters untreated. While comprehensive sewerage systems for wastewater disposal are largely in place in urban areas, the country lacks municipal and industrial wastewater treatment plants. The programme "Sewage Disposal South-West Kosovo IV" aims to improve sewage disposal and treatment in several cities, particularly with a view to sustainable protection of natural water resources and improvement of the living conditions of the population. The programme provides for extensive sewage disposal measures in the town of Peja, financed by KfW, SECO and through local funds from the town administration and the Republic of Kosovo. The total construction costs of the measures in the town of Peja amount to €17 million. They include the construction of a main collector to transport the wastewater to the treatment plant site 6 km away, another collector to connect the southern parts of the town, stormwater overflows and a fully biological treatment plant. An anaerobic-mesophilic digester stabilises the sewage sludge produced; the plant's own power supply is provided by several CHPs with sewage gas. With a planned sewage treatment capacity of 81,000 population equivalents, it is one of the first wastewater treatment plants in Kosovo. In addition to domestic wastewater treatment, the connection of an interregional brewery is planned. The municipal waste management company RWC HIDRODRINI JSC commissioned DAHLEM with the planning, functional call for tender and construction supervision of the wastewater treatment plant as well as the transport collectors.

Following the start of construction at the beginning of 2016, the new pumping station building on the Emscher sewer in Oberhausen celebrated its topping-out ceremony on 4^th March 2020. Daniel Schranz (Lord Mayor of Oberhausen), Ullrich Sierau (Lord Mayor of Dortmund), Uli Paetzel (Chairman of the Emschergenossenschaft Executive Board) and Emanuel Grün (Executive Board member for Water Management and Technical Services at Emschergenossenschaft) were impressed by the on-schedule construction progress and the good cooperation between the project participants. Pumping Station Oberhausen is the last major sub-project and a decisive piece of the puzzle for completion of the wastewater-free Emscher. In the future, the wastewater will cross the Ruhr area between Dortmund and Dinslaken in a new underground channel over a distance of more than 50 km. Since the slope of this Emscher sewer is greater than the natural slope of the Emscher, three new pumping stations were designed and built along the route to raise the wastewater. The other two pumping stations in Gelsenkirchen and Bottrop are already in operation. Pumping Station Oberhausen, along with the entire Emscher sewer, is expected to be commissioned at the end of next year. The Emschergenossenschaft commissioned DAHLEM with the design of the almost 50m deep excavation pit and pumping station, including the complex process engineering, control and mechanical engineering. DAHLEM is also playing a major role in the construction supervision in its capacity of a joint venture partner.

It is a high-tech facility where everything is just about right. With outstanding architecture, a clearly defined purpose and state-of-the-art technology inside, its new digesters are, therefore, characteristic of Würzburg wastewater treatment plant. In the future, 4,500 tonnes of sewage sludge will be produced each year, with an almost tripled annual capacity of 10,000 cubic metres. This means more digester gas and more power generation. 4.2 million kWh of additional electricity can now be produced to be consumed directly on site. As a result of this measure, the CO₂ balance improves enormously and the odour nuisance is also reduced. A focal point of the electrical engineering was the integration of the generated energy with the Mainfranken network in line with the Renewable Energy Sources Act. Specifically, the lightning protection system was a considerable planning challenge. Here, it was necessary to, on the one hand, adapt the components of the new digesters and, on the other, to protect their design membrane and the potentially explosive areas against lightning strikes. DAHLEM was responsible for the electrotechnical planning for all service phases.

The 35^th BWK Federal Congress will take place in Cologne, October 1^st – 3^rd, with the leading theme: "Environment and water management focused on climate change". It offers three specialized events:

• Synergies from flood protection and water pollution control
• Floods & heavy rain – a 361° panoramic view
• The Rhine, water and roads, an area of conflict?

all of which have a high level of relevance to the central water management and environmental tasks, therefore a high response rate is expected from participants from the industry, administration, consulting and science. At the accompanying exhibition, DAHLEM will be represented with an information stand - here you are welcome to inform yourself about our services, also in the subject areas of the symposium.

The focus of this year's IWASA symposium in the fight against floods is increasingly moving in the direction of heavy rain and flash flood events. In the past two decades, the formerly pure flood protection has evolved into flood risk management. Experts and the public focused on this development, accompanied by the requirements of the EU Flood Directive, in particular flood events on rivers, triggered by the flood events on the Rhine (1993 and 1995), Oder (1997) and Elbe (2002 and 2013). DAHLEM is represented with an information stand at the conference. You are welcome to discuss the high relevance of the topic, due to new requirements, with experienced colleagues from our Darmstadt office.

In July 2018, DAHLEM founded a new office in Berlin, initially with three employees. To date, the DAHLEM team there has more than doubled in size and further new appointments are planned. The office space is also growing. The growth in staff has been accommodated by moving within the building, from the side wing to the main building, where more space is available. With the establishment of the branch office in Berlin, DAHLEM is consistently implementing its strategy of being present in promising markets. The growing customer base speaks for itself: The high potential of the Berlin market is particularly evident in the strong demand for innovative water management solutions.

Since 1^st January, 2020, Dr.-Ing. Jan-Gregor Dahlem, owner of DAHLEM Beratende Ingenieure GmbH & Co. Wasserwirtschaft KG, has become the new owner of Dr.-Ing. F. Schmidt-Bregas Ingenieurgesellschaft mbH based in Wiesbaden. Jan-Gregor Dahlem takes over the company shares and will drive the engineering company forward under its well-known name. With this step, the continued existence and performance of the Schmidt-Bregas office, including the jobs, are sustainably secured. The long-time managing director Dipl.-Ing. Martin Schmidt-Bregas, who will continue to manage the company, is very happy about the successful succession solution: "With this decision, we guarantee that our rich-in-tradition engineering company – after all, we are looking back on a company history spanning more than 40 years - will be competent and able to face the water management requirements of the future with the highest quality. This allows us to implement our customers‘ projects in the usual manner”. Schmidt-Bregas continues: “With this solution, we benefit in several ways because the tried and tested remains and the individual strengths of both companies can be combined. In addition, the companies already know each other from joint projects, so smooth cooperation is guaranteed".