Austrian Water and Waste Management Association
| Austrian Water and Waste Management Association (ÖWAV) |
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| purpose | Promotion of sustainable water and waste management, vocational training, research & science |
| President: | Roland Hohenauer |
| Executive Director: | Manfred Assmann |
| Establishment date: | 1909 |
| Number of members: | approx. 2000 |
| Seat : | Vienna, Austria |
| Website: | www.oewav.at |
The Austrian Water and Waste Management Association (ÖWAV) is an industry association for water and waste management in Austria. As a non-profit association, it is committed to achieving the sustainable goals of water , sewage and waste management on a national and international level.
History of the association
The magazine "Die Wasserkraft" reported for the first time on August 1, 1909 about the establishment of a water management organization of the Federation of Austrian Industrialists. At the end of 1909 the statutes were approved. The constituent assembly of the "Water Management Association of Austrian Industry" took place on January 29, 1910 in the House of Industry, where Dr. Georg Zetter, the head of the Szolyva-Holzkohlungs-AG, who was also Vice President of the Federation of Industrialists, was elected President of the Association. He headed the association until the political situation in the Austro-Hungarian region was reorganized after the end of the First World War . Based on “a lively activity for the expansion of alpine water power”, the association developed over the entire area of water management, and despite the very strong connection to industry at the beginning, a basic idea was upheld: “The unity of the water cycle, the entity of water management”. The work of the water management association initially extended "to the appointment of experts for the various purposes (water management statistics, water damage insurance, creation of an exchange for the traffic in hydropower, etc.)."
The First World War almost ended the activities of the water management association. It was not until 1916 that “a new campaign in favor of the exploitation of water power” was started, which only came to fruition in 1919, when at the general assembly of the association the “responsible state offices” were urged in a resolution “to attack certain expandable water power”. In 1920, the hydrograph Richard Siedek succeeded the resigned President Georg Zetter. Due to the dissolution of Austria-Hungary, the name of the association was briefly changed to the “Water Management Association of the Main Association of German-Austrian Industry”. In 1922, under President Ernst Seidler, it was given the name “Water Management Association of Austrian Industry”, which it retained until 1936. In 1934 Federal Chancellor a. D. Ernst Streeruwitz won the association as president. During this period of office a new restructuring and the renaming to "Austrian Water Management Association" falls. At that time the number of members of the association doubled. A number of specialist committees for hydropower management, for legal matters, for water supply, for wastewater management and for inland waterway transport and the “Austrian Hydraulics Committee”, which had been set up earlier, began their work. The successful development of the association came to an abrupt end when in 1938 the association was dissolved in the course of the efforts of the 'Third Reich' to harmonize.
It was not until the summer of 1945 that the Austrian Water Management Association started operating from Linz. In February 1946 the Federal Ministry of the Interior suspended the order for the dissolution of the association, and at the plenary meeting in June 1946 in the mirror room of the engineering house, State Secretary a. D. Ludwig Stepski-Doliwa elected new President of the ÖWWV. Under Stepski-Doliwa, the close ties between the association and industry began to break away. The association's office was at Doblhoffgasse 7 in the 1st district of Vienna , where it remained until 1954. In this year the first "own" managing director, Dr. Roland Bucksch, ordered. The association saw its main task as being a forum for the exchange of views between experts. In the committees then - as now - the representatives of science, authorities and business came together to work together. It was then that the first specialist groups were formed. So you can find the "Wastewater Expert Group" under the direction of Julius Kar, the "Danube Committee", the "Mass Concrete Committee", the "Standards Committee", the "Legal Committee", the "Study Committee" and the "Torstah Committee". The ÖWWV covered a broad spectrum and offered its function as a neutral and dependent platform to no fewer than four ministries that were then concerned with the subject of water. The Austrian Water Management Association was redefined and under the presidents Georg Beurle (1960–1972), Julius Kar (1972–1977), Robert Fenz (1977–1987), Werner Biffl (1987–1990), Helmut Werner (1990–1996) , Werner Lengyel (1996–1999), Helmut Kroiß (1999–2002), Werner Flögl (2002–2008), Johann Wiedner (2011–2015) and Roland Hohenauer (2008–2011 and 2015–2019).
tasks
The ÖWAV offers its 2,000 member organizations an industry network, a platform of experts and professional groups involved, as well as current information and a balance of interests in the national water, sewage and waste management. One of the most important tasks is the creation of the ÖWAV set of rules by working committees of the association's specialist groups. In addition, numerous seminars and training courses are held annually as part of the ÖWAV's training program for the individual specialist areas. With 7,500 participants in around 160 events, the ÖWAV is the largest training provider in the fields of water, sewage and waste management in Austria.
The ÖWAV also offers publications for experts. The specialist groups and working groups of the ÖWAV develop the technical regulations in numerous working committees, draft position and expert papers, submit statements on draft laws and enable decision-makers from business, administration and science to exchange experiences.
In addition, the ÖWAV publishes together with the Federal Ministry for Sustainability and Tourism (BMNT) the only Austrian specialist journal for the entire water and waste management. The focus of the specialist journal "Österreichische Wasser- und Abfallwirtschaft" (ÖWAW) is on the publication of original scientific papers from water, sewage and waste management. The magazine is published bimonthly by Springer-Verlag and has a print run of 4,500 copies in 2018.
aims
Training and quality standards for water and waste management
- Creation of technical regulations (rule sheets, work aids)
- Committee activity within the framework of the work of the specialist groups
- Education and training in all areas of water and waste management.
Information and balance of interests
- Platform function to balance interests,
- Information work for members and for the public,
- Advice to the legislature in the preparation of environmental laws
- Network platform for members
Training and advanced training program of the ÖWAV
- Meetings and seminars
- Training courses in the areas of: wastewater treatment systems, sewer systems, dams and retention basins, flood protection systems, snow-making systems, near-natural hydraulic engineering, water maintenance, neophyte management, torrent and avalanche control, maintenance of fish ladders, project management, cost and performance accounting, legal and economic principles
- Participation in the sewer and sewage plant neighborhoods
- Exchange of experience for operators of waste treatment plants, operators of wastewater treatment plants, flood protection associations, cooperatives and municipalities
- Special training for managers,
- Network meeting for young professionals in water, sewage and waste management
Members of the ÖWAV
The members of the ÖWAV mainly come from the following areas:
- Construction and construction industry
- Federation, states and municipalities
- Flood protection associations
- Engineering offices
- Advocacy groups
- Manufacturing and trading company
- Law firms and fiduciary firms
- Universities and scientific institutions
- Supply and disposal companies
- Associations and Associations
- Water supply, sewage and waste associations
- Certifiers, experts and auditors
Presidents (selection)
- 1987 to 1990: Werner Biffl
- 1990 to 1996: Helmut Werner
- 1996 to 1999: Werner Lengyel
- 1999 to 2002: Helmut Kroiß
- 2002 to 2008: Werner Flögl
- 2008 to 2011: Roland Hohenauer
- 2011 to 2015: Johann Wiedner
- since 2015: Roland Hohenauer
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ ÖWAV - About Us In: oewav.at , accessed on February 17 2018th
- ↑ ÖWAV: Commemorative 1909-2009 . Ed .: ÖWAV. Vienna 2009, p. 103 .
- ^ Oskar Vas: History, tasks and goals of the Austrian Water Management Association. In: Austrian Water Management Association. History - tasks - goals. Vienna 1955.
- ↑ The organization of those interested in water rights. - In: General Water Day organized by the Alpine Sections of the Federation of Austrian Industrialists. Salzburg, March 25th and 26th, 1909. Shorthand transcript. Vienna March 25, 1909, p. 253-256 .
- ↑ www.oewav.at: Trade journal "Austrian Water and Waste Management" (ÖWAW)
- ↑ Werner BIFFL (Chairman) :: University Council :: BOKU . Retrieved July 23, 2017.
- ↑ ÖWAV Festschrift 1909–2009
- ↑ 100 years of the ÖWAV 1909–2009 . Retrieved February 15, 2018.
- ↑ ÖWAV activity reports 2011–2015