DigiwatRO- Digitalisation of the water sector and water education

The DigiwatRO project will increase the effectiveness in the water sector by enhancing the use of digital tools in utilities facilitated by the enhanced digital competence in graduate education.

Romania’s investment needs to comply with the EU”s Drinking Water Directive (DWD) and the Urban Wastewater Directive (UWWD) by 2030 are estimated to be 21.5 billion EUR. The digitalisation of the water sector can make the water utilities and services much more efficient than today in the context of limited resources.

The role of universities to strengthen the quality of graduate studies, using increased digitalisation and motivations to promote uptake of innovations are important, as the graduates today will be the decision-makers, administrators, managers and scientists tomorrow. Thus, the University of Galati (UGAL) and the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU) are implementing this project jointly.

Objective

The objective of the DIGIWATRO project is to increase the effectiveness in the water sector by enhancing the use of digital tools in utilities facilitated by the enhanced digital competence in graduate education. This will be achieved through two sub-objectives:

(1) Increase the process surveillance and process control in water supply and wastewater management with a high cost-benefit ratio

(2) Reducing the digital skills mismatch in the water industry.