German American Water Technology Magazine - GACC · PDF fileGerman American Water Technology...

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German American Water Technology Magazine

German Water and Wastewater

Technology: Partner and Problem-Solver

Exploring Transatlantic Synergies for Innovation and Investment in the Water Sector

Featuring our Great Lakes Series: Lake Michigan

2013 / 2014

Special Thanks to the German American Water Technology Initiative Partners, Sponsors, Supporters, and Contributors!

Supporters of the GAWT Initiative

GAWT Roundtable in Minneaplis, MN, on February 28, 2013

Our Local Partner Our Local Sponsor

GAWT Roundtable in Grand Rapids, MI, on June 27, 2013

Venue Host & Premium Sponsor Event Sponsors

Our Local Partner Our Local Sponsor

Further Supporters & ContributorsDB Sediments | Argonne National Laboratory | Center for Neighborhood Technologies | VDMA | HafenCity Hamburg |

HEYL BROTHERS | City of Grand Rapids | Metropolitan Planning Council | Council of Great Lakes Governors

WEFTEC International Night Reception in Chicago, IL, on October 7, 2013Country Partners

3German American Water Technology Magazine 2013/2014

With the release of the second edition of our German American Water Technology Magazine as part of our water initiative, we celebrate the advances made in the exchanges of know-how and technology as well as the synergies for innovation and investment that could be explored between all of our participants in the past year.

The German American Water Technology Initiative was built on two water forums in Chicago, IL and Cincinnati, OH in 2011 and was officially kicked off last year in October, when we hosted our three Exchange Days in Cedar Rapids, IA, St. Louis, MO, and Chicago, IL to discuss industrial water usage, sustainable regional water management, and municipal water infrastructure. This year, we put on a series of three water expert roundtables in Minneapolis, MN, Grand Rapids, MI and Milwaukee, WI. In April, we brought a delegation of US water sector leaders to Germany and visited experts in Hamburg, Berlin, and Frankfurt. We were able to witness an amazing variety of technologies for urban water management, such as plus-energy wastewater treatment plants or sewage sludge incineration plants. Our International Night Reception at WEFTEC in October 2013 in Chicago is going to be the first of many networking events for water industry experts within our initiative.

The platform we have created for know-how, technology, and economic exchanges has given policy-makers, water experts, and firms the chance to pragmatically deal with the obstacles surrounding sustainable and efficient water management, industrial water usage, and more optimal municipal water infrastructures. With Germany and the US leading the market for these solutions, transatlantic cooperation is vital in dealing with heightened demand from a growing global population and challenging economic times felt by the globe.

I would like to give a special thank you to all of our sponsors, supporters, contributors, speakers, event attendees, and everyone who has helped the German American Chamber of Commerce of the Midwest build and curate the German American Water Technology Initiative in the spirit of our transatlantic partnership. I would like to give additional thanks to the Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany Chicago and German Water Partnership for their support in the US and Germany.

Please enjoy this wonderful read!

Simone PohlPresident & CEOGerman American Chamber of Commerce® of the Midwest, Inc.

Welcome

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Water is a natural resource that is essential for life. It is in constant demand from a global population growing by approx. 80 million people a year, with consumption rising by 64 billion cubic meters annually.

An active exchange among experts is crucial, as water scarcity affects more than 40 percent of the world’s population. Natural disasters such as extreme drought or flooding, as seen in Germany this year, are occurring with greater frequency, increasing the need for climate action plans and more efficient and sustainable water infrastructures to hedge these threats to water accessibility.

We need to implement greener technologies for water management as well as wastewater treatment. Solutions will come with more efficient water consumption and better infrastructures built for greater sustainability. Germany and the U.S. are leaders in this field, together holding more than 40 percent of patent applications for innovative solutions. The German American Water Technology Initiative provides an excellent opportunity for transatlantic know-how, technology, and commercial exchange. That is why the German Embassy is proudly supporting this campaign as part of the Transatlantic Climate Bridge.

I would like to express my thanks to the German American Chamber of Commerce of the Midwest for building this much-needed and well-received platform.

Dr. Peter AmmonAmbassador of the Federal Republic of GermanyWashington, October 2013

Message of Greetings


Table of Contents

Welcome Simone Pohl 3

Welcome LetterDr. Peter Ammon 4

The German American Water Technology Initiative ContinuesGACC Midwest 6

The US Water Sector and the GAWT Initiative in ActionGACC Midwest 8

German Water Partnership Expands its Activities in the AmericasGerman Water Partnership 10

The Great Lakes - St. Lawrence Water PartnershipCouncil of Great Lakes Governors 11

The HafenCity Hamburg Project Hafencity Hamburg 12

Water Expert Delegation Trip to Germany: Water Management Lessons from Berlin, Hamburg, and Frankfurt Metropolitan Planning Council 14

Phytoremediation of Groundwater and Soil Argonne National Laboratory 19

Smart Water for Smart Regions The Center for Neighborhood Technologies 20

German Water and Wastewater Technology: Partner and Problem-Solver VDMA 22

The Great Lakes Series - Lake MichiganGACC Midwest 24

Reduced Energy Costs due to Online Monitoring of Water QualityHeyl Brothers North America L.P. 25

The Transatlantic Climate Bridge The Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany 26

Building Resilient and Sustainable Grand Rapids City of Grand Rapids 28

The German American Chambers of Commerce Network GACC Midwest 32

Upcoming GACC Midwest Programs 2014 GACC Midwest 33

Our Services GACC Midwest 34

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After a successful launch in 2012, the German American Water Technology Ini-tiative (GAWT Initiative) has grown im-mensely in 2013 and will continue in 2014. With the establishment of this initiative, the German American Chamber of Com-merce of the Midwest provides a platform for know-how, technology, and economic exchange among water experts, policy makers, organizations, and private busi-nesses on both sides of the Atlantic.

The 2013 Program and How to Become a Part of Our Initiative in the FutureIn 2013, the German American Chamber of Commerce of the Midwest organized a series of three water technology expert roundtables in Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin to discuss innovative German and American water technologies. Ger-many and the US are world leaders in the advancement of water technologies, and German companies in the sector are open to partnerships with their US counter-parts. With this roundtable series, we want to take advantage of the expertise avail-able in these two countries to facilitate an exchange of know-how and innovative ideas, and to foster bilateral collaboration in the water sector.

In 2013, we also accompanied an Expert Delegation to Germany to witness the country’s proficient implementation of sustainable water infrastructure first-hand from the industry’s key players. This hands-on program provided opportu-nities to connect with German experts, companies, and organizations interested in collaborating with US firms through B2B meetings supported by GACC Mid-west staff.

On October 7, 2013, our Internation-al Night Reception takes place on the occasion of WEFTEC 2013, the Water En-vironment Federation’s Annual Techni-cal Exhibition and Conference, which is the biggest meeting of its kind in North America and offers thousands of inter-

national professionals the best water quality education and training available. The International Networking Reception is an ideal place to network with this in-ternational select group of water quality experts. Attendees have the chance to expand their network, connect with more than 150 professionals from the water en-vironment industry, and to get to know key industry players.

The GAWT Initiative is also present at WEFTEC. At the WEFTEC Global Center, GACC Midwest in cooperation with Ger-many Trade & Invest gives presentations about the German and US water sectors, innovative German and American water technologies, challenges in the water sec-tor due to climate change, as well as ener-gy efficiency.

To inspire the next generation of engi-neers and water professionals, GACC Mid-west is organizing an Energy Efficiency Innovation Seminar (funded by the Ger-man Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology) focusing on municipal water

infrastructure that takes place at four Mid-western universities end of October 2013. Leading German companies in the water sector are going to present innovative ideas and technologies related to energy efficiency.

Upcoming Events & ProgramsFor 2014, we are currently planning a roundtable series and a delegation trip of German water experts to the US, taking the initiative on the road again and visit-ing further cities in the Midwest region.

For upcoming programs and your opportunities to become a part of our GAWT Initiative, please visit our website or contact us.

Contact:GACC Midwest Dr. Petra StieningerEmail: [email protected] Phone: +1 (312) 665-0977URL: www.gaccmidwest.org/en/water

The German American Water Technology Initiative Continuesby GACC Midwest

The GAWT-Initiative on the road


The Water-Energy Nexus: A GAWT Expert Roundtable and Luncheon in Minneapolis, MN on February 28, 2013

Together with the Minnesota Trade Office, GACC Midwest hosted part one of the three-part expert water technology roundtable series in Minneapolis, MN on February 28, 2013.

This roundtable focused on new and emerging technologies in the water treatment and conservation industries with presentations from industry experts and leaders. Participants had the opportunity to engage in an exciting panel discussion to discover how they can benefit from the full potential of these new technologies.

The goal of this event was to present and discuss innovative, efficient and environmentally responsible technologies in order to provide solutions for sustainable water management. Experts from German and US companies like WILO, Johnson Screens – A Weatherford Company, Creative Water Solutions, and Utility Management Solutions and MeterLogix discussed advanced concepts for more efficient water treatment, usage, supply and the water-energy nexus as an integrated part of a sustainable water management strategy. Water treatment technologies continue to evolve, so these kind of cooperative events and discussions are important for maintaining competitive advantage.

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Infrastructure Needs and a Shift to Public-Private Partnership In recent years, public consensus in the United States has taken a slow but steady 180 degree shift towards environmental consciousness. More than ever, people are concerned with the scarcity of natural resources and water is no exception. Fur-thermore, laws and regulations in terms of water consumption and pollution are becoming stricter and make sustainable wastewater and storm water manage-ment a new challenge for municipalities. At the same time, the US water infra-structure is old, inefficient, and does not meet the needs and requirements for a resource-efficient and sustainable opera-tion.

According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, the upgrading of storm water and wastewater systems in the United States will cost about $298 billion over the next two decades. In addition, the Na-tional League of Cities estimates the costs for the repair of the US drinking water in-frastructure at $334.8 billion. These costs have the potential to reach 1 trillion over the next two to three decades. Alongside these challenges, several other concerns have arisen, including enhancing munici-pal use management, public-private part-nerships during difficult economic times, and a shift towards quantitative measur-ing, along with waste minimization.

New financing options to produce capital flows into municipal water projects re-main a critical challenge for local author-ities and policy-makers. The challenging economic climate and the financial obli-gations of municipalities to other govern-mental organizations have drastically de-layed the rehabilitation of aged water lines and breaks. As a result, new private financ-ing options are being developed in the midst of limited public funding. In the US, regional construction and maintenance of water infrastructures are financed pri-marily by way of civil bonds and revenues. Developments in correcting and rehabili-

tating municipal infrastructures, however, are now being halted by a lack of access to that traditional capital.

Private resources used in collaboration with local and state authorities are need-ed urgently in the US water sector which is forced to deal with 240,000 water main breaks a year. Evidence of this notion ex-ists in the US by way of the “Water Is Your Business Campaign”, launched by the National Association of Water Compa-nies and the US Chamber of Commerce to deal with the problem. Thirty states in the US have enacted legislation paving the way for public-private partnerships to deal with the financing of infrastructure projects. According to the Urban Land Institute, spending on such projects in the US has declined to around 2.4% of its GDP, from its peak of over 3% in the 1960s. State and local governments account for about 75% of all infrastructure spending while the remaining quarter is covered by the federal level.

Taxation, user fees, environmental impact, and public safety are political concerns to be addressed in regards to infrastructure projects. It is difficult for politicians to per-suade the public to dig deeper into their pockets to pay higher rates for water. Ac-cording to the Global Water Intelligence, rates for water have risen recently (6.4% from mid-2011 to mid-2012), though these rates are still low in comparison to the rest of the world.

Private enterprises have played key roles in the sector for over 200 years now. By way of the collaboration between the public and private sectors, municipalities and state leaders have been able to fi-nance the construction of treatment facil-ities necessary to meet the standards and regulations set by both the Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Acts mandat-ed by Congress.

Exploring Synergies for Innovation and InvestmentOn the platform of the German American Water Technology (GAWT) Initiative, Ger-man and American water experts have come together to present cutting-edge technologies to deal with the challenges of wastewater treatment, municipal wa-ter management, and enhanced sustain-ability in the industries that need it most. These experts have realized outstanding market opportunities for the near future. Most of the remaining space for expan-sion within the sector derives from the continuous abandonment of subterra-nean infrastructures that are constantly being patched up, though not thoroughly renovated.

Germany has one of the most efficient water infrastructure systems in the world with an annual investment of approxi-mately EUR 7 billion in the water sector over the last years. The US can now ben-efit from German best practice solutions and the GAWT Initiative supports this process by providing a base for the initial exchange between these two countries. With American environmental assess-ments becoming more in sync with Ger-mans in green engineering, there will be an increasing need for sustainable water usage to be fostered by infrastructures that mirror natural frameworks. There are market opportunities for American and German firms to provide solutions and services to confront the challenges in industrial wastewater management, the capturing of storm water for recycling, new desalination methods and technol-ogies, and infiltration technologies that bring cleaner and safer water to the glass-es of consumers, and into the production of water based goods.

With the GAWT Initiative, challenges such as the increasing demand for innovative, efficient, and environmentally-responsi-ble solutions for water infrastructure and water technologies in the US and Germa-ny, policy changes towards more efficient

The US Water Sector and the GAWT Initiative in Actionby GACC Midwest


water infrastructure, decreasing water consumption, and incentives to conserve water can be addressed together by the two global leaders in water technology innovation.

References: American Society of Civil Engineers: 2013 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure.

Deane, Michael. 2013: The Year of Pub-lic-Private Partnerships. Huff Post Business. 4/24/2013.

Miller, Jonathan D. Infrastructure 2013: Global Priorities, Global Insights. Urban Land Institute and Ernst & Young. 2013.

Tariff Rises Outstripped by Inflation. Global Water Intelligence, Vol.13, Issue 9, Septem-ber 2012.

Javetz, E. The US water sector on the verge of transformation. Global Cleantech Center White Paper.

Sustainable Wastewater Treatment in Food Processing Industries:A GAWT Expert Roundtable and Breakfast in Grand Rapids, MI on June 27, 2013

GACC Midwest, together with The Right Place, hosted the second event of the expert roundtable series about innovative water technologies in Grand Rapids, MI on June 27, 2013.

This breakfast roundtable focused on wastewater treatment in the F&B, food processing, and agribusiness industries. Food processing and agribusiness are two of the most water-intensive, water-dependent industry sectors, and are also two of the fastest growing industries in West Michigan.

West Michigan’s companies in these industries are surrounded by 20% of the world’s fresh water resources – safe, efficient use and treatment of water is essential to maintaining this growth. When it comes to water usage and wastewater treatment, sustainable solutions are crucial in order to maintain this vital, scarce commodity.

We were delighted to have the presence of our German companies NEUTRALOX Umwelttechnik GmbH and KSB Inc., as well as our US company representatives from Elemental Resource Recovery, LLC and the City of Grand Rapids at this event.

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German Water Partnership (GWP) is an association of companies and institutions from the German water industry with the objective to promote German water ex-pertise worldwide. Since its foundation in 2008 it has won an international reputa-tion as a central contact for water issues, benefitting from the strategic possibilities of a prospering network and the expertise and the know-how of its members. Thanks to synergies between the member com-panies and research institutions as well as to the support of five federal ministries, German Water Partnership can act as a central contact for international potential clients on an interdisciplinary level.

Innovations in Demand The US and Canada are becoming increas-ingly important for GWP. Experts from the network meet regularly to discuss op-portunities of participation in the North American markets and to drive activities forward.

According to a study by the University of Milwaukee, the US is the biggest market for innovative products and technologies for the water sector, with a share of twen-ty percent of the global market. The rein-forcement of laws for the prevention of water pollution, like the Clean Water Act, have a positive effect on the demand for sustainable and efficient water solutions and infrastructure, as does the increasing awareness of decision makers for the lim-its and the value of water reserves.

GWP has already initiated and organized various international events to exchange information and discuss possibilities for international cooperation.

Exchange Focussing on Practical Aspects At Wasser Berlin International 2013, Ger-man Water Partnership presented itself together with twenty members and was happy to welcome GACC Midwest’s US water expert delegation to Berlin. Aside from an information meeting on innova-

tive water technology and infrastructure, a tour of the fair, and individual meetings with GWP members at the joint booth, the experts had the opportunity of visit-ing the Berliner Wasserbetriebe and the Berlin Centre of Competence for Water. At Luri Watersystems the group learned about an innovative system that stores storm sewage from combined sewers in containers during peaks and thus pre-vents the contamination of local rivers. In Frankfurt, the group visited a sewage treatment plant featuring sludge inciner-ation which generates energy via CHP. The journey was organized by GACC Midwest with GWP as a partner and supported by the German Federal Ministry of Econom-ics and Technology.

Opportunities for market-building and business development as well as trans-sectoral collaboration and network-ing were the main topics of the round table “North America” at the GWP annual conference in June 2013. GWP members, guests and partners from Canada and the US discussed challenges and needs as well as the resulting chances of coopera-tion and business initiations.

Next Steps are PlannedTo further deepen and perpetuate the contacts and to identify challenges in the water management of the region, the next meetings are already being planned: the collaboration with relevant local insti-tutions is to be enhanced within the con-text of delegation’s trips to Canada and the US.

In the long run this will lead to coordi-nated solutions, from planning over tech-nology procurement to the execution of projects. Also, in the future, GWP will make an effort to reach these goals and togeth-er with its members and partners be avail-able as a central contact.

Contact:

German Water Partnership e.V. (GWP)Christine von LonskiActing General ManagerReinhardtstraße 3210117 BerlinGermanyTel.: +49 30 300199-1220Fax: +49 30 300199-3220E-mail: [email protected]: www.germanwaterpartnership.de

German Water Partnership Expands its Activities in the Americasby Christine von Lonski, German Water Partnership

WBI 2013: GWP presents the expertise of the German water sector and GWP’s international network activities to a US delegation of purchasers.

International water experts met at the GWP annual conference 2013 in Berlin.


In June, the Governors and Premiers of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin gath-ered for the Council of Great Lakes Gover-nors 2013 Leadership Summit to set a new collaborative agenda for the region. The Leadership Summit’s theme - Strength-ening Our Economy and Protecting Our Great Lakes - included a particular focus on trade, transportation and water. As part of a suite of new initiatives, the Coun-cil of Great Lakes Governors launched the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Water Partner-ship to better position the region in the growing global “blue economy.”

At the Leadership Summit, Michigan Gov-ernor Rick Snyder, Council of Great Lakes Governors Co-Chair, said, “The Great Lakes are a fabulous asset, a strategic advan-tage.” The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Water Partnership will help our region capitalize on this tremendous asset and set the pace in this crucial 21st century market.

This Partnership will create a regional fo-rum for the region’s water-related com-panies and policymakers to help brand North America’s “water belt” and better position the region in international mar-kets. The region holds about 20 percent of the world’s surface freshwater and is uniquely positioned in water technology, research and innovation. A historic hub for agriculture and water-intensive man-ufacturing, the region is home to world leaders in valves, filtration, green infra-

structure, engineering and consulting. The Partnership will foster region-wide collaboration and information sharing among these firms and help them market themselves globally.

This innovative initiative will also devel-op a comprehensive “Water Partnership Buyer’s Guide” that will serve as portal for domestic and international buyers to ac-cess information on regional water sector companies and service providers. Each listing will be categorized by sector (e.g. green infrastructure, wastewater, consul-tants, etc.) and include company contact information along with a brief descrip-tion. The Guide will be a unique resource. Additionally, the Council of Great Lakes Governors and the Partnership are lead-ing trade missions with planned water sector participation to: Colombia, Chile and Brazil in September 2013; India in April 2014; and Singapore and Indone-sia in conjunction with Singapore Water Week in June 2014.

Council trade missions create opportu-nities for regional businesses in dynamic foreign markets and provide a high return on investment for participating compa-nies. Singapore Water Week is a leading global water event where industry play-ers share the latest in business, scientific and technological innovation, and policy developments. Recruitment efforts will target companies and service providers listed in the “Water Partnership Buyer’s Guide.”

The Partnership will also showcase inno-vative water sector technology and ser-vices through international clean water projects. In conjunction with trade mis-sions, the Water Partnership will organize development projects such as building wells or installing water sanitation sys-tems in developing countries. In addition to providing needed assistance to users, these projects will help create visibility for featured technologies and service provid-ers.

Finally, the Partnership will host a series of free “Water Sector Opportunities” we-binars for regional companies focusing on Australia, China, India, South East Asia, South America and other high-growth markets. These educational webinars will showcase international water sector op-portunities and give participants an op-portunity to connect with regional part-ners.

The Partnership’s project-focused agenda is designed to complement the work of other water sector organizations includ-ing The Water Council in Milwaukee, Blue Tech Alliance in Chicago and others. And, the Partnership is eager to build relation-ships with German companies and others that are already active in the global blue economy.

It is estimated that within four years the global market for water-related products and services will reach nearly $800 billion annually. The Partnership will help region-al companies tap this burgeoning market. As Illinois Governor Pat Quinn, Council of Great Lakes Governors Co-Chair, noted, “[Our] water-environment companies are going to grow. Other places in the world are desperate for water technology and we can provide it.”

More information on the Great Lakes - St. Lawrence Partnership can be found at: www.greatlakeswaterpartnership.com

The Great Lakes - St. Lawrence Water Partnershipby the Council of Great Lakes Governors

Mackinac Island, Michigan

Michigan Governor Rick Snyder

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A new downtown is growing: HafenCity – currently Europe’s largest inner-city development project – is a blueprint for the development of a European city on the waterfront Hamburg is setting new standards in de-veloping a new city area along the Elbe – at least in Europe. On an area of 157 hectares, a lively city with a maritime air is taking shape, bringing together work-place and residential uses, culture and leisure, tourism and retail facilities – quite unlike downtowns dominated by nothing but offices and shops. What sets it apart from other major urban international de-velopment projects on the water is the area’s very central location and the high expectations of quality reflected, for in-stance, in its fine-grained mix of uses, standards of urbanity and ecological sus-tainability, and innovative development process.

The intensive interaction between land and water can also be regarded as unique, for HafenCity is not surrounded by dikes, nor cut off from the water. With the ex-ception of the quays and promenades, the whole area will be raised to between 8 and 9m above sea level. The concept of building on artificial compacted mounds (warfts) lends an area once dominated by port and industrial uses a new, character-

istic topography, retaining access to the water and the typical port atmosphere, while guaranteeing protection from ex-treme floods. At the same time, the objec-tives of HafenCity development are very wide-ranging.

Definition of a completely new urban district The task in hand is to define a new down-town in both urban planning and archi-tectural terms. More than 2.32 million sqm gross floor area (GFA) will be built. HafenCity consists almost wholly of new buildings, since not many old ones were

retained or worth preserving, as the site of HafenCity was largely occupied by single-story sheds. This is still the case in eastern HafenCity. A total 6,000 residential units for 12,000 residents are being built, as well as business premises offering in excess of 45,000 job opportunities, plus restaurants and bars, cultural and leisure amenities, retail facilities, parks, plazas, and promenades.

The urban planning and architectural re-interpretation of the place centers on es-tablished structures. Its milieu is informed by the Speicherstadt, port structures, and a few existing buildings, as well as the widespread use of red clinker brick.

Between a city in the making and an evolved city – current development statusHafenCity’s momentum is greater than ever. While everyday home and working life, culture, restaurants, cafés, and shops are already well established in western quarters, HafenCity’s center is now being completed step by step. A very special place has already emerged in Magdeburg-er Hafen: The Elbe Arcades are an architec-turally attractive building ensemble with open arcade space combining a variety

The HafenCity Hamburg Projectby HafenCity Hamburg

HafenCity General Illustration. Source: HafenCity Hamburg GmbH/Michael Korol/Fotofrizz

The breathtaking Elbphilharmonie featuring a gigantic glass wave. Source: Herzog & de Meuron


of residential formats, a creative design platform and the German headquarters of the world’s biggest environmental or-ganization. In the same neighborhood the HafenCity University (HCU) is breathing intensive fresh life into HafenCity – and not just as a result of the many students. To the east, parts of Lohsepark already show how green the whole of HafenCity will be in the future and already is in many places. The whole area is due to open as a traditional public park during 2016 at the latest.

At the same time the development of HafenCity is progressing eastwards. It was a very special occasion when the Baak-enhafen bridge was lifted into position in June 2013. On the one hand, its ele-gant design, generous accommodation for cyclists and pedestrians, as well as the highest ecological standards make the bridge an impressive structure that is also technically extremely innovative. It is one of only five pilot projects in the whole of Germany to have been planned and built in accordance with specific sustainability criteria for civil engineering construction. Its qualities were evaluated using the “life-cycle sustainability of road bridges” assessment procedures developed on behalf of the Federal Highway Research Institute (BASt) and graded as very good.

On the other hand, the inauguration of the new harbor crossing marks the kick-off for development in eastern HafenCity. “Heading for new shores” was the symbol-ic title of the public festival held in sum-

mer to celebrate it. In the next few years not only will a dense mix of multifaceted residential forms develop around Baak-enhafen, HafenCity’s largest harbor basin, including joint building ventures, housing cooperative developments, and private-ly owned apartments, but also a third of the housing will be publicly funded. With its excellent public transport connections and a focus on sustainable mobility, it is set to become a particularly green and family friendly inner-city neighborhood. Following the invitation of tenders for the construction mainly of offices on the site at the entrance to Baakenhafen in sum-mer 2013, bids are currently being invited for development and purchase of the first two largely residential-use plots in central Baakenhafen.

Meanwhile in the north of Überseequarti-er the remaining gap sites are being filled. Construction of a residential tower start-ed in summer on the empty plot adjoin-ing the former harbor master’s office (Al-tes Hafenamt), while development is due to begin in 2014 of the Altes Hafenamt itself and the remaining plots opposite the Speicherstadt, where an outstanding-ly varied mix of uses including residential, hotel and various entertainment uses is planned from 2014 on. The concept for the southern part of Überseequartier is currently being revised, though it will still retain the quarter’s unique open charac-ter. The focus is on adjusting the concept with regard to retail use, protection from the elements and use of the upper stories. This also involves an assessment of the ex-

tent to which residential use can be inte-grated, despite the proximity of the cruise terminal and the need to avoid conflict with intensive public uses.

About 2.32 million sqm of gross floor area with 45,000 job opportunities and 12,000 residents will have been developed by 2025. But a new part of the Hamburg city center with its very own qualities has al-ready been created. Anyone who strolls through HafenCity today will experience not just a city in the making but one that seems to have evolved. There are chil-dren playing on the equipment in the new Grasbrookpark, night owls discover-ing the first clubs, and residents, workers and tourists filling the parks, promenades, cafés, and restaurants. Things are moving in Oberhafen quarter, too. Further space has been handed over to creative industry tenants, and exciting cultural events are a regular feature.

With its qualities of urbanity and sustain-ability, HafenCity has become an out-standing project in intelligent new city building, aside from urban development and architecture, which is setting stan-dards worldwide. The foundations are being laid in the center of a metropolitan area for sustainable, socially mixed, and neighborly coexistence. It is now taking its next successful step eastward.

Terminal One of the HafenCity Cruise Center. Source: HafenCity Hamburg GmbH/Christoph Gebler

The Dalmannkai promenade is perfect for strolling and resting.Source: HafenCity Hamburg GmbH/Daniel Barthmann

From April 22 to 26, 2013 the German Amer-ican Chamber of Commerce of the Midwest, together with their local partner in Germa-ny, German Water Partnership, organized a delegation trip to Germany for experts in the water sector. The trip was funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economics and Technology. During that delegation trip, US water experts learned about German innovations within the water sector in Ber-lin, Hamburg, and Frankfurt. The hands-on program provided immediate access to the technologies and best practices that had made German solutions for sustainable wa-ter management internationally successful. Delegation participants had the chance to learn from industry experts through an ex-change of expertise with Germany’s key de-cision makers and industry players, and to connect with German companies and orga-nizations in previously arranged meetings. During informative events, experts from the industry, decision-makers, associations, institutions, and others presented detailed insights about the German water sector.

Josh Ellis from the Metropolitan Planning Council, a Chicago-based urban and re-gional development organization, was part of the delegation. He blogged throughout the entire trip to share his experiences in Germany, and allowed us to publish ex-tracts from it here.

Dispatches from Germany

Day I – April 23, 2013: Three things I learned today I’m glad lots of people seem to have been enjoying the photos I’ve been posting on MPC’s Facebook page, as well as my initial efforts at this thing called Twitter (yep, that’s me @MPCJosh). Berlin’s been amaz-ing thus far. There are so many cranes, and so much building going on. The for-mer demilitarized zone between East and West Berlin is one big construction proj-ect, the federal government and city are investing heavily in the riverfront, and there are these crazy purple pipes run-

ning overhead all over the place (the wa-ter table is high, so water is pumped out of the ground at construction sites and released somewhere, I’ll find out where tomorrow. The transit system is amazing, and easily navigated, even in a foreign lan-guage. There is care, detail and planning put into everything, which I appreciate.

Today, however, we finally got down to brass tacks. The Wasser Berlin Internation-al is one of Germany’s largest trade show/conferences for firms supplying utilities and industry with water, wastewater and stormwater solutions. The German Amer-ican Chamber of Commerce’s Midwest of-fice (out of Chicago) set up our tour, and the German Water Partnership hosted us today. We kicked things off with presen-tations from a diverse group of German firms, and I found three of them very com-pelling:

PillAerator makes blowers for aerating wastewater that run on magnetic bear-ings, which helps treatment facilities to manage their energy usage much more nimbly. When there is a lot of wastewater

in the system, dial it up and away you go, when there is less, dial it down and reap efficiency savings. I thought it was pretty cool. Also pretty cool was a presentation from 3S Antriebe, a firm that makes wire-less systems for smart valves on water, sewer, gas, and district heating mains. 3S Antriebe connects valves to a wireless network, and ultimately right to an app on your phone. Essentially, if there’s a main break, it sends you a message, you tell the valve to close, and it closes remotely. This is just one way we can build smarter, more resilient infrastructure to withstand ex-treme weather events. Pretty slick.

But slicker still was DB Sediments. A prob-lem with dams is that they cause sedimen-tation on the upstream side (which reduc-es the storage capacity of the reservoir the dam was built to create), and erosion on the downstream side (water without sediment will generally move faster, with pronounced wave action, which erodes riverbanks more quickly). Worldwide, all investment in new reservoirs in the last 20 years hasn’t added any actual storage, because it’s been offset by losses due to

Water Expert Delegation Trip to Germany: Water Management Lessons from Berlin, Hamburg, and Frankfurtby Josh Ellis, Metropolitan Planning Council

Presentation at German Water Partnership’s Trade Show Booth

14


sedimentation. Sediment is also a source of nutrients, so it’s often the case that the areas downstream of dams will have a severely limited ecosystem. This has led to a whole lot of dam decommissioning and deconstruction, as the cost of dredg-ing out the reservoir on a regular basis is quite high, as is the cost of restoring riverbanks on the downstream side. The problem with removing dams is that you lose the benefits of the dam - typically the water supply storage in the reservoir and power production. DB Sediments has de-veloped an extremely inexpensive means of reducing both sedimentation and ero-sion, while maintaining the benefits from the dam itself.

Sedimentation happens because the dam changes the flow regime in the river, ba-sically by slowing the flow of water. How-ever, water still flows through the dam, and at the point where the water passes through the dam, the velocity picks back up again. DB Sediments has developed a means of getting the sediment from the point at which it settled to the point at which the water flow is once again suf-ficient to move it through the dam, and thus to other side where it can help man-age erosion. They build what are essen-tially vacuum systems you might see in a swimming pool. Running on a cable grid hanging above the water, these vacuums

collect sediments and release them where the water will move them. It’s that simple. It greatly extends the lifespan of the dam and maintains the power and water sup-ply benefits. In pilot projects in Olsberg, Germany, within four weeks signs of life had returned to the area downstream of the dam. Sediment transfer is a part of na-ture, and hugely important to the health of downstream deltas, but power produc-

tion and water supply management are pretty important too. DB Sediment just might be on to something that allows us to have both.

Day II – April 24, 2013: Berlin – A resilience concept for Chicago? Despite the lessons I share below, I have to say that the most amazing thing I learned in Berlin was a few details of history that may or may not have a real bearing on much at all. Berlin’s water and wastewater system, as is the case in many old cities, was built a long time ago, certainly well before the city came to be divided juris-dictionally after World War II. What had been one city, one water management entity, one set of pipes effectively be-came multiple cities, multiple water man-agement entities, but still only one set of pipes. The same pipe network was man-aged, or at least half-managed, by the East and West, with no official communication back and forth. Whatever water or sewage showed up in the pipes on your side of the border was what you had to deal with, and the same goes for whatever you sent downstream. The only “communication” back and forth was in volumes of water and sewage, and I for one find that pretty remarkable.

Exhibition Tour at Wasser Berlin International

Presentation at Berliner Wasserbetriebe’s Trade Show Booth

Berlin’s water utility today is structured a bit differently than anything we have in northeastern Illinois. It is neither an in-vestor-owned utility nor a municipal de-partment. It is a not-for-profit company owned by the actual municipality of Ber-lin (which is also a state), but Veolia also has a substantial share in the company, and a seat on the Board of directors. Be-cause it operates as a somewhat separate enterprise, the staff leadership I spoke with believe the long-term management of the utility is less readily affected by short-term changes in elected officials, or the current financial situation of the mu-nicipal-state government. This in itself is something worth paying attention to, but not what I’ll focus on here.

In other respects, Berlin operates much like a combination of the City of Chica-go Dept. of Water Management and the Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago. 9 water treatment plants (all groundwater), 6 wastewater plants, all serving about 4 million people. Like Chi-cago/MWRD, there is a combined sewer system for stormwater and wastewater throughout most of the service area, and again like us, that system overflows pretty frequently. How they deal with all that is where we might stand to benefit.

At first glance, Berlin’s water system (the pipes, not the aquifers, which they claim are abundant and re-charged by ample rainfall) does not appear too resilient. The system is constantly running, pumping groundwater, with absolutely no storage. No water towers, no reservoirs, nothing. All the currently-potable water Berlin has to offer is in a pipe somewhere, and the rest is still in the ground. This is very similar

to Chicago itself, which unlike most of the suburbs has no distributed storage in wa-ter towers. Chicago’s water storage, more or less, is Lake Michigan. If something happens to a treatment plant or a specif-ic water main, then it would appear that trouble might follow. Not the case, and that’s intentional. With 9 water treatment plants, pump stations throughout the net-work, and a central command center with control over the whole system, if one or more plants go down for some reason, or the wrong main bursts at the wrong time, then Berlin can adjust with a few mouse clicks. Switch off a plant, shut a few valves, and voilà, water moves through the sys-tem in a different way. That ability to adapt on the fly to changing conditions, while maintaining the same core services, is at the heart of resiliency planning.

Day III – April 25, 2013: Hamburg – Water and energy efficiency I spent the bulk of my time in Hamburg at Hamburg Wasser’s main wastewater trea-ment plant, which is remarkable in its own right (as I explore through photos here), but at the end of the day, not that differ-ent from other treatment plants. Instead, what struck me most about Hamburg was all the other stuff - stuff I wouldn’t typical-ly consider as the core operations of most

Tour of Luri.watersystems.GmbH’s Pilot Plant in Berlin

Welcome Address by Alderman Holger Lange at Hamburg City Hall

16


water/wastewater utilities here in the U.S. - that our hosts believed to be part of their core mission. It’s my experience that most water utilities are driven by a goal of sell-ing clean drinking water, while wastewa-ter utilities are driven by a goal of meeting regulatory requirements for discharg-es into waterways. Those are admirable goals, far from easily accomplished. In the case of Hamburg Wasser (which is the sec-ond oldest utility in Europe, trailing only London), however, the goal appears to be true integrated water resources manage-ment in the service of Hamburg’s broader economic development and environmen-tal protection goals. That means water isn’t sold for the sake of selling water, and wastewater isn’t treated just because it’s required by law, but because potable wa-ter (and some non-potable water) are re-quired to run an economy and a city, while wastewater is a great source of resources for energy production, and yes, the quality of discharge to area waterways is a major factor in the integrity of those ecosystems. All told, this represents a divergence from

many utilities here.

Hamburg Wasser deced it wanted to be self-sufficicent in regards to energy, and realized that its waste stream was its sin-gle biggest sources of resources for that... enter biogas harvesting, sludge inciner-ation (the scrub the bejezzus out of the emissions, so the only thing going into the atmosphere is water vapor), solar and wind power, heat transfer, and some good ol’ fashioned lightbulbs swaps.

The utility started working with other city departments on the Jenfield project. Jen-field is a test case for self-sustained neigh-borhoods within an exisiting urban envi-ronment. A former police barrakcs facility, Hamburg decided to rebuild Jenfield as a way to prove the water-energy nexus can be met, resolved, and managed. Any tap water used on site is recycled as graywa-ter, and any blackwater (sewage) has the waste removed for energy production, at which point the graywater is reused. Rain goes directly to the river (which is tidal,

a nice feature, all your stormwater gets pulled out to sea every 6 hours). Add in some other energy production, and voila, a pretty much water and energy neutral neighborhood. I know this is the sort of technology being explored for the re-devlopment of the USX site on Chicago’s south side, but it’s also the sort of thing the Chicago Housing Authority and Pub-lic Building Commission should be taking a look at as they continue to build anew in and around Chicago.

Day IV – April 26, 2013: Frankfurt/Sindlingen – The future is nowI mentioned Frankfurt in the title, and while the main lesson there was “Don’t try to compete with Hamburg,” some staff from Darmstadt University presented on Semizentral Germany, which is compa-rable to Jenfield in many regards. While Jenfield is a neighborhood, Semizentral is building modular units that can be rap-idly built in developing countries and use

Tour of the Wastewater Treatment Plant in Sindlingen - Sludge Dewatering System & Incinerator in Frankfurt

18

potable water and resulting sewage to produce new potable water, non-potable water when you don’t need to drink it, en-ergy, caloric heat, and stabilzed waste that can be used as fertilizer. This stuff isn’t the future. It’s here.

All in all, what impressed me about Ham-burg (and to a lesser extent, Frankfurt) was the willingness to reconsider what we normally think of as the provision of water and wastewater services and infra-structure. Hamburg Wasser doesn’t exist

to sell water - revenue generation is not their primary concern, though the water side generated a 65 million Euro surplus last year, after a 150 million Euro capital in-vestment, and wastewater came out even - they exist to manage water resources in the service of economic development, high quality of life, ecological integrity, and all the other things where having some clean water and clean waterways might be nice. It was refreshing, some-what startling, and worth the trip.

Tour at Hamburg Wasser

18


Phytoremediation is the remediation of soil or groundwater using plants. It is a type of green technology that relies on solar-driven plants to do the bulk of the contaminant removal or breakdown.

Various phytoremedial processes can be effective in meeting cleanup objectives for a site. Phytoaccumulation is the re-moval of metals and inorganics from soils into plants selected because they are hy-peraccumulators of a target contaminant. The plants are then harvested for pro-cessing and/or disposal. Rhizofiltration is a process used to withdraw metals and organic compounds from wastewater. Phytodegradation is the destruction of organic compounds such as trichloroeth-ylene (TCE) within plant tissue; it is analo-gous to the destruction of contaminants by a green liver. Phytovolatilization can remove organic compounds and mercu-ry as a result of a plant’s basic function of transpiration. Below ground, fungus and bacteria grow symbiotically along roots, and this microbial activity can break down organic compounds in situ. Sys-tems focused on groundwater remedia-tion may rely on water-loving plants, such as poplar, willow, or eucalyptus, to take up large amounts of water, thereby con-trolling the groundwater flow directions while removing contaminants. Typically, the groundwater must be shallow for the use of phytoremediation to be practical; however, special techniques can be used to target fairly deep groundwater, as de-scribed below.

Compared to other types of site reme-diation alternatives, phytoremediation is generally a less expensive and much more aesthetic option. It has gained pub-lic and regulatory acceptance since its onset in the 1990s. In many cases, a phy-toremedial approach may be considered for a site, with plant selection based on the climate; soil type; and the type, depth, and concentration of contaminants. No tool is ideal for every situation, and phy-toremediation may be ruled out if con-

taminant concentrations would be toxic to plants. Phytoremediation is influenced by seasons and may require a longer time frame than mechanical, thermal, or chem-ical remediation systems. In some cases, phytoremediation is used as part of a treatment train – for example, to target a downgradient contaminant plume while more aggressive methods are applied at the source area. It can also be used as a polishing step, with installation of the plants following the removal of the bulk of the contaminant mass.

Plant-based monitoring methods have been developed. These include meth-ods for laboratory analysis of plant tissue (leaves, stems, cores of tree trunks) and transpirate sampling methods for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) or tritiated water. Ongoing research is directed at methods for mapping plumes based on plant tissue analysis and determining the correlation of contaminant concentra-tions and organic compound degradation products to particular parts of a plant that are the best indicators of contaminant up-take and degradation.

Argonne National Laboratory (Argonne), located about 30 km southwest of Chi-cago, Illinois, is a U.S. Department of En-ergy facility. Scientific and engineering research is conducted at Argonne in many multidiscipline areas, including environmental research. Argonne is in-volved in the research and application of phytoremedial technologies at various

sites. These projects have included met-als in shallow soil and phytoremediation teamed with constructed wetlands as part of a treatment train for carbon tet-rachloride. A key site for the researchers has been at Argonne itself. Here, VOCs and tritium were disposed of decades ago. Following a source area treatment, a phytoremediation plantation of 800 trees was installed in 1999. Half of the trees were willows planted in the source area, whereas the other 400 trees were pop-lars targeting the downgradient plume. The contaminated aquifer is a sandy unit about 8 meters below ground and sep-arated from the surface by fine-grained glacial till. The poplars were therefore installed using a patented process, in-cluding drilling a large-diameter hole through the till to the aquifer, lining the hole with plastic, backfilling with materi-als to promote root growth, and installing the tree. In this manner, the only source of water for the trees is the contaminated groundwater, and the method overcame the otherwise problematic issue of depth to groundwater. Monitoring at the site continues, including tissue and transpi-rate analysis, sap flow measurements to assess water uptake, and groundwater sampling. Probes for hourly water level measurements have indicated diurnal fluctuations resulting from tree uptake as well as seasonal variations. The plantation has shown uptake of VOCs and tritium since the initial installation season, and research continues on the effectiveness of the technology.

Phytoremediation of Groundwater and Soilby John J. Quinn, PhD, Principal Hydrogeologist, Argonne National Laboratory

The Phytoremediation Site at Argonne

20

Global cities and the mega-regions surrounding them are rapidly becoming the world’s centers of economic growth and innovation. However these urban centers face multiple water resource challenges: inadequate flood control, water loss and supply issues, and outdated infrastructure that wastes water and money. The Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT) is working with communities, elected officials, government agencies, and other nonprofit organizations to help find intelligent, practical solutions.

As part of the Smart Water for Smart Regions initiative, which focuses on water supply and stormwater issues in the eight Great Lakes states, CNT is continuing to release research and engage in advocacy efforts to help cities and citizens solve issues ranging from leaky pipes to flooded basements.

Urban FloodingWet basements. Swampy backyards. Submerged streets. When it comes to flooding in cities, it makes little difference whether a property is located within a floodplain or not — damage happens, happens often, and can inflict significant costs. This stark lack of correlation between property damage claims and recognized floodplains is among the key findings of The Prevalence and Cost of Urban Flooding, a CNT report released in May 2013.

The report, the first of its kind to collectively analyze flood damage claims and sewer- and drain-backup claims data from multiple providers of insurance and other financial assistance, is part of a first phase of research at CNT on the prevalence and cost of flooding to property owners—such as homes and businesses—in urban and suburban areas. Urban flooding is caused by too much rain overwhelming drainage systems and waterways, and making its way into basements, backyards, and streets.

CNT researchers took the unprecedented step of combining insurance claims payout data for property damage in Cook County, IL (home to Chicago and several suburbs), between 2007–2011, aggregated by ZIP code, with analysis of 115 responses to an online survey of property owners who experienced flooding in the last five years.

Key points from the report:• Urban flooding in Cook County is

chronic and systemic, resulting in damage that is widespread, repetitive and costly. Analysis identified 177,000 claims made across 96 percent of Cook County ZIP codes, and in each of the five years. This is the equivalent of one in six properties in the county making a claim.

• There is no correlation between damage payouts and the floodplains.

Smart Water for Smart Regionsby the Center for Neighborhood Technology


When all types of claims are aggregated, some of the Cook County ZIP codes with the highest concentration of payouts (number and value) have no land area located within federally designated floodplains.

• Claims were made across income groups, however 67 percent of the 27 ZIP codes with the highest concentrations of damage earn below the average median household income for Cook County.

• Flood insurance is not carrying the burden of damage payouts. Claims via the National Flood Insurance Program—the only formal ‘flood’ insurance program—represent just 10 percent of total payouts.

“In looking at the data we have, which is unique, we saw a somewhat shocking picture of the cost and frequency of urban flood damage,” said Harriet Festing, Water Program Director at CNT. “More shocking is that we know it represents a significant understatement of actual flood damage. There’s more data out there from insurers and property owners that will tell an even more disheartening story.”

CNT intends to expand its research on urban flooding, both in the Chicago area and in cities throughout the Great Lakes states.

In the meantime, CNT is facilitating interaction between flood victims and the organizations, officials and service

providers that can help solve urban flooding issues. Under the banner of “The Gross Gathering” – a name intended to reflect the unpleasantness of flood damage – CNT is convening events and hosting a Facebook group dedicated to urban flooding. The Gross Gathering helps to humanize the issue, and makes it easier to advocate for broad, neighborhood- and community-level solutions.

To learn more about CNT’s urban flooding work, please contact Harriet Festing, Water Program Director, at [email protected].

Water LossMoney down the drain. Across America, water utilities and water consumers – basically, all of us – are watching money go down the drain. Every single day, more than six billion gallons of expensive, treated water is simply lost. Why? Crumbling infrastructure. Leaky, aging pipes and outdated systems are wasting roughly 14 percent of our nation’s daily water use.

Water loss from failing infrastructure, faulty metering, and flat-out theft costs money, and can mean lost revenue for utilities and higher rates for water users. With increasing demand, maintenance and energy costs within the water industry, rates are already rising. Between 1996 and 2010, the cost of water services in the US rose by nearly 90 percent. Given this increase, it is essential that we quickly adopt effective water loss control practices.

The Great Lakes region, already a recognized hub of water service innovation, is a perfect place to start. The Great Lakes states are stewards of the world’s largest available source of fresh water, and represent nearly 30 percent of our nation’s gross domestic product and 60 percent of manufacturing. Controlling water loss is a smart investment that will ease burdens on utilities and consumers, drive innovation and economic development, protect human health, preserve water resources, and set a national standard for responsible governance and resource protection.

Beginning with a brief released this fall of 2013 titled The Case for Fixing the Leaks, CNT is initiating a collaborative campaign to “Fix the Leaks” in the Great Lakes states. This initiative proposes to help utilities and states improve their water loss control practices through:• New research on water loss and related

issues• Education and technical support to

encourage industry best practices• Development of model state legislation

to support best practices, uniform disclosure, and improved planning

We can no longer afford the business-as-usual approach to managing water services. The costs are too high.

It’s Time to Fix the LeaksThrough new research, education and awareness, technical assistance, and supportive legislation, CNT is working to help utilities across the Great Lakes states adopt responsible water management practices. We welcome your collaboration.

To learn more about the Fixing the Leaks campaign, please contact Danielle Gallet, Water Supply Program Manager, at [email protected].__________________________________

For more information about the Center for Neighborhood Technology’s work in water please visit: www.cnt.org/water

Private Insurance National FloodInsurance Program

FEMA Disaster Relief

Percentage of Aggregated Flood Payouts by Payer

63%

27%

10%

22

The complex challenges posed by the production of water and by the treatment of potable and process water as well as municipal and industrial wastewater re-quire a constructive and faithful cooper-ation of all involved parties. Authorities, designers, operators, and plant construc-tors have to act jointly in order to be able to put into practice technically and economically reasonable concepts. The VDMA member companies regard it as both the order of the day and, with regard to the water and wastewater technology markets of the future, as an indispensable prerequisite for business success to find optimal solutions together with the cus-tomers. The manufacturers of water and wastewater technology are well aware of their responsibility for the scarce resource water. They see themselves as partners of their customers, whose problems they accept as technological challenges. By considering the whole process chain – from producing raw water from ground and surface water via the treatment of industrial and municipal waste water, to the disposal of sewage sludge – they are in a position to offer their customers

optimum process concepts tailor-made for the respective application on site. To achieve this aim, however, it is absolute-ly necessary for the designers, operators and system providers to start cooperating early on in the process. Only this way can low-emission and energy-efficient tech-nologies be implemented in both indus-try and municipalities, ensuring – also in the future – a safe and affordable supply of water and disposal of wastewater that is in the best interest of the end users. This joint approach will also increasingly affect the growing global markets in the field of water management. These markets will ever more force the German providers of plants, systems, and components as well as engineering offices, building compa-nies, and financial services providers to enter into strategic provider alliances in order to be successful, in the long run, in the concert of global players.

VDMA offers assistance for entering into international marketsThe VDMA Process Plant and Equipment Association has developed a workshop

series for its members on the “Initiation and Implementation of Projects on the International Markets”. This platform en-ables the cross-sector dialogue between the interested actors in Germany and contributes to promoting the export of German water and wastewater technol-ogy. In order to directly address potential customers from the foreign markets, the VDMA initiates, in regular intervals, the participation of German companies ac-tive in the field of water and wastewater technology in symposia held abroad. In doing so, the association is supported by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology. For medium-sized enterpris-es, these special lecture events – accom-panied by catalogue exhibitions – are economically reasonable ways to enter into the market and to establish contacts.

State of the art: VDMA SpecificationsEach type of market cultivation requires a solid technical basis: The so-called VDMA Specifications (VDMA-Einheitsblätter), i.e. the VDMA’s body of technical rules and regulations, offer the member companies a broad basis on which they can formulate, in a coordinated manner, what they con-sider as the “state of the art” with regard to the respective components, machines, and plants. These documents are no spec-ifications in the sense of standards. For the users of the VDMA Specifications, e.g. designers and operators of plants and fa-cilities in municipalities and the industry, this type of recommendations and advice, however, serves as important instructions for planning, project design, and tenders. By means of the Specifications they can assess technologies and systems and compare offers on a technical and eco-nomic basis.

German water and wastewater technology – leaders on the global marketThe global demand for components and

German Water and Wastewater Technology: Partner and Problem-Solverby Peter Gebhart, VDMA

Seite 2 • 12.09.2013

Verfahrenstechnische Maschinen und Apparate

Die 10 wichtigsten Exportmärkte für Deutschland weltweit in Mio. Euro

Basis: Warennummer 842121Quelle: VDMA, Stat. Bundesamt

20,80

30,70

31,30

36,10

32,90

38,40

43,50

50,30

44,90

73,00

26,60

26,70

30,90

34,00

41,60

46,80

53,60

58,60

61,40

62,70

0,00 10,00 20,00 30,00 40,00 50,00 60,00 70,00 80,00

Republik Korea

Spanien

Österreich

Italien

Schweiz

Vereinig. Königreich

USA

China

Frankreich

Russland

Gesamt 2012: 914,77 Mio. Euro Gesamt 2011: 813,06 Mio. Euro

Seite 4 • 12.09.2013

Verfahrenstechnische Maschinen und Apparate

Deutsche Exporte von Apparaten zum Filtrieren oder Reinigen von Wasser nach Regionen 2012

Exportvolumen gesamt: 914,77Mio. Euro Basis: Warennummer 842121Apparate zum Filtrieren oder Reinigen von WasserBasis: 46 Exportnationen

EU 27 Staaten39%

Sonstige Staaten Europas

17%

Asien19%

Nordamerika7%

Naher, Mittlerer Osten

7%

Afrika4%

Mittel- und Südamerika

5%

Australien, Ozeanien2%Russia

France

China

USA

UK

Switzerland

Italy

Austria

Spain

Republic of Korea

Total 2012: 914,77 Mio. Euro Total 2011: 813,06 Mio. Euro Source: VDMA, Stat. Bundesamt

Water Purification and Filtering AppliancesThe 10 Most Important Export Markets for Germany in 2012(worldwide in Mio. Euro)


systems for the treatment of water, waste-water and sludge is high already and con-tinues to rise. As German providers offer their customers individual system solu-tions adapted to the particular require-ments on site, they are in great demand as partners. The short decision-making lines found in the mainly medium-sized companies put the providers in a position where they can react promptly to chang-es even as late as during project design and implementation. It is for these rea-sons, among other things, that, in 2011, German businesses were able to further strengthen their position as global lead-ers: In 2011, the German exports of com-ponents and systems for the treatment of water, wastewater, and sludge increased by a good 17% to 773 million euros. The most important sales market used to be the EU 27. In the recent past, however, growth in exports is driven by demand from Russia and, particularly, China. For 2011, the sector’s turnover in the field of mechanical equipment for water tech-nology is estimated to amount to more than 1.6 billion euros. Also in the future, the growing demand for components and systems for the treatment of water, wastewater, and sludge, generated by expanding megacities and the further de-velopment of industrial locations all over the world, will render German businesses – with their innovative concepts – part-ners in great demand.

Energy- and resource-efficient processes for more sustainabilityThe high demands placed on water and wastewater technology require the con-tinuous adaptation and further develop-ment of the existing technologies which have to be able to meet also the challeng-es the arid regions of the earth are facing. Novel sanitary concepts enabling a sepa-ration of the substance flows into yellow, brown, and gray water provide the rele-vant problem-solving solutions. This way, concentrated, unmixed partial wastewa-ter flows can be treated in an easier and more cost-effective manner, valuable con-stituents can be removed, and the treat-ed wastewater re-used. Energy-efficient plants and systems saving the resource water are integrative systems which use – in an ecologically and economically opti-

mum manner – the natural resources wa-ter, energy, and recyclable material. Such plants and systems require rethinking in water and wastewater technology, away from a disposal system for pollutants and towards a resource management system as part of integrative sustainable water management systems.

In an industry which accounts for 24% of the global water consumption, recycling is the key to sustainability since closed water circuits reduce the amount of water removed from the circuit and minimize wastewater loading. There are region-al differences in the proportions of the wastewater discharge from commerce and industry; partly effective pre-treat-ment is required before the wastewa-ter can enter the municipal wastewater treatment plant, or complete treatment for the purposes of direct wastewater dis-charge is necessary. In order to achieve sustainable water pollution control, the pre-treatment of industrial wastewater with high organic loads usually requires multi-step process concepts. Only this way can the partly rather high regulatory requirements for the discharge of waste-water be fulfilled. Particularly in the case of high loads of organic carbon and nitro-gen, the water and wastewater industry itself may require considerable amounts of energy for the secondary treatment of wastewater and sludge. For this reason, there is an increasing demand for ener-gyoptimized system solutions combining the aim of low effluent limit values with a positive CO2 balance. Wastewater with considerable carbon loads is increasingly subjected to partial de-loading by means of anaerobic processes, and the resulting biogas is used energetically, e.g. in block-type thermal power plants. This results in a reduction of the oxygen demand for aero-bic post-treatment, due to a lower energy demand for ventilation and stirring, and in a minimization of the production of sur-plus sludge. Further potential for innova-tive developments lies in combining ad-vanced process engineering techniques with modern process control systems.

The future belongs to intelligent plant conceptsIn the context of the European environ-

mental legislation, the holistic approach is becoming ever more important. Ex-amples of this legislation are the Water Framework Directive and the EU Industri-al Emissions Directive, which have to be transposed into national law and require cross-media consideration of all emis-sions – in air, water and soil. These statuto-ry provisions will have considerable bear-ing on the requirements for technologies in the field of the treatment of potable, nondrinking, and process water as well as for holistic concepts for the disposal of wastewater. Investment-related decisions will have to be adapted more and more to the quality of existing raw water sources and the existing situation with regard to the disposal of wastewater. These days, economy and ecology are indispensable parts of the overall picture when it comes to designing, establishing, and running innovative processes of treating water, wastewater, and sludge. The trade in CO2 certificates is an additional incentive in this context.

Contact:

VDMA Process Plant and Equipment Peter Gebhart Recooling Technology Water and Wastewater Technology Lyoner Straße 18 60528 FrankfurtTel.: +49 69 6603-1468Fax: +49 69 6603-2468 Email: [email protected]: www.vdma.org

Being the only Great Lake that is com-pletely located within the United States, Lake Michigan has been essential to the development of the region known today as the American Midwest. The lake got its name from the Native American Ojibwa’s word Mishigami, meaning “great water,” and has provided crucial trade and trans-portation routes for centuries. Today, 12 million people live along its shores, with most of those occupants living in Milwau-kee, Wisconsin and Chicago, Illinois.

Lake Michigan is the second largest of all five Great Lakes. It has a total volume of 1,180 cubic miles. It has a total surface area of 22,400 square miles. With an aver-age depth of around 279 feet, and a maxi-mum depth of 925 feet, it ranks as the sev-enth largest lake in the world by volume. Interestingly, Lake Michigan and Lake Hu-ron are technically one lake, being joined by the Straits of Mackinac. Water from Lake Michigan flows into Lake Huron, al-lowing for a complete change of water around every 100 years. When measured together, the two bodies make up the 4th largest lake as a single entity.

The basin region of Lake Michigan is de-fined by the Environmental Protection Agency as the 45,000 square mile area of land where rivers and streams all drain into Lake Michigan. The drainage basin drains parts of Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan. The shoreline is the imme-diate coastal region of the lake.

Major Industries around Lake MichiganSince the industrialization of the Great Lakes region in the early 20th century, ag-riculture, fishing, and tourism, along with steel, paper, and chemicals manufacturing have been many of the major industries in the Lake Michigan region. These indus-tries are located in its major shoreline cit-ies such as Milwaukee in Wisconsin, Chica-go in Illinois, and Gary in Indiana.

The basin area of Wisconsin is a premiere location for the production of the state’s famous cheeses and other dairy products. Its largest city, Milwaukee, and its metro-politan area place among the top man-ufacturing centers in the United States, ranked second among major metropol-itan areas in the percentage of its work-force in manufacturing. Milwaukee is also known for its beer industry and its Ger-man brewing history dating back in the 19th century.

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The Great Lakes Series - Lake Michigan

With more than 2.7 million people, Chica-go is not only the largest city located at Lake Michigan but also the third largest city in the US. Chicago’s economy includes manufacturing, finance and insurance, printing and publishing, as well as food processing. Its position on the Lake makes it a national transportation and distribu-tion center.

The City of Gary in Indiana has its main industry base in the steel manufacturing, paper products, plastics, chemicals, rub-ber and food processing. Interestingly, tourism has become a new sector, offering entertainment venues, restaurants, casino boats, and the city’s renovated Buffington Harbor not only for locals but also as a get-away for people from Chicago.

On the Michigan shore, there is no major city located. However, steel is produced in the southern basin region of Lake Mich-igan near Detroit, Michigan where the state’s vibrant automotive industry is lo-cated.

Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Basin Land Use

Shoreline Land Use

Major Industries around Lake Michigan: Since the industrialization of the Great Lakes region in the early 20th century, agriculture, fishing, and tourism, along with steel, paper, and chemicals manufacturing have been many of the major industries in the Lake Michigan region. These industries are located in its major shoreline cities such as Milwaukee in Wisconsin, Chicago in Illinois, and Gary in Indiana. The basin area of Wisconsin is a premiere location for the production of the state’s famous cheeses and other dairy products. Its largest city, Milwaukee, the metropolitan area places among the top manufacturing centers in the United States, ranked second among major metropolitan areas in the percentage of its workforce in manufacturing. ilwaukee is also known for its beer industry and its German brewing history dating back in the 19th century. With more than 2.7 million people, Chicago is not only the largest city located at Lake Michigan but also the third largest city in the US. Chicago’s economy includes manufacturing, finance and insurance, printing and publishing, as well as food processing. Its position on the Lake makes it a national transportation and distribution center. The City of Gary in Indiana has its main industry base in the steel manufacturing, paper products, plastics, chemicals, rubber and food processing. Interestingly, tourism has become a new sector, offering entertainment venues, restaurants, casino boats, and the city’s renovated Buffington Harbor not only for locals but also as a get-away for people from Chicago. On the Michigan shore, there is no major city located. However, steel is produced in the southern basin region of Lake Michigan near Detroit, Michigan where the automotive industry is located.

NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, Goddard Space Flight Center. Courtesy of RS&GIS, Michigan State University

References: US Environmental Protection Agency – Lakewide Management Plans (Lake Michigan): http://www.epa.gov/greatlakes/lakemich/intro.html Great Lakes (The Great Lakes of North America): http://geography.about.com/od/specificplacesofinterest/a/greatlakes.htm Kim Ann Zimmerman – Live Science.com - Lake Michigan Facts: http://www.livescience.com/32011-lake-michigan.html City-Data.com – Metro Milwaukee Association of Commerce: http://www.city-data.com/us-cities/The-Midwest/Milwaukee-Economy.html City-Data.com – Gary Chamber of Commerce: http://www.city-data.com/us-cities/The-Midwest/Gary-Economy.html City-Data.com – Chicago Department of Planning and Development: http://www.city-data.com/us-cities/The-Midwest/Chicago-Economy.html

NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, Goddard Space Flight Center. Courtesy of RS&GIS, Michigan State University

Agricultural 44%

Residential 9%

Forest 41%

Other 6%

Agricultural 20%Residential 39%Recreational 24%Commercial 5%Other 5%

Wisconsin

Illinois Indiana

Michigan


According to the US Geological Survey and the German Federal Agency for Car-tography and Geodesy (BKG), water sourc-es have been classified as hard or very hard in most regions in the United States and Germany. This implicates that virtu-ally any facility in these regions could be vulnerable to incurring extra energy costs due to formation of lime scale in boilers and other negative effects of hard water.Lime scale is caused by calcium salts con-tained in hard water attaching to the sur-face of metal that they come into contact with, forming a milky-colored, solid layer. In this way, lime scale builds up on the in-side surfaces of the pipes and other metal parts of a boiler.

This results in a reduction of heat trans-mission, leading to the immediate effect of a decrease in heating capacity and a high flow resistance - important fac-tors for energy costs. In addition, when it builds up, lime scale on heat transfer surfaces such as tubes may result in local overheating of the tube metal and the for-mation of cracks on the tube surfaces.

Furthermore, a build-up of numerous harmful factors such as silicates, sulfate, and calcium phosphate in boiler feedwa-ter can lead to further harmful deposits on heat transfer surfaces. The presence of an excessive amount of any one of these substances in boiler feedwater can lead to costs of up to approx. $27,000 per year. When these factors combine to form scale build-ups, the costs due to energy loss, de-scaling operations, and further po-tential damage to the boiler and related equipment can be enormous.

Implementing Heyl’s efficient online wa-ter quality-monitoring technology in your facility using boilers or cooling towers is a vital step toward protecting your facility from these risks. The combination of our products, the Testomat 2000®, Softmas-ter® MMP2, and EcoControl EC Dos Desalt, leads to less waste water, lower salt usage, and cost savings through lower energy demand. Furthermore, longer downtimes

due to boiler cleaning can be prevented. The Testomat 2000® is our robust online field measuring instrument that analyzes feed water hardness and other param-eters such as chlorine, chromate, or iron on a quantity- or time-controlled basis. The accompanying Softmaster® MMP2 will initiate the regeneration of a soften-ing unit if acceptable hardness levels are exceeded. Additionally, to avoid corrosion due to salt, the conductivity level of the water can be monitored with the EcoCon-trol EC Dos Desalt.

Plant operators and facility managers can therefore increase the efficiency of the boiler water softening process. Our sys-tem allows operators to detect whether the chemical tank contains the correct level of salt and ensures that the regener-ation process is running correctly.

Beside boiler facilities, Heyl online water monitoring devices can also be used in cooling towers, swimming pools, and for process water treatment.

Find more information on our website: www.heyl.de

Contact:

Heyl Brothers North America L.P.321 North Clark Street, Suite 1425Chicago, IL 60654USAPhone: +1 312-377-6123Fax: +1 312-644-0738Email: [email protected]

Gebrüder Heyl Analysentechnik GmbH & Co. KGJörg-Tilman Heyl Orleansstr. 75 b31135 HildesheimGermanyPhone: + 49 (0) 51 21 28 933 0Fax: + 49 (0) 51 21 28 933 67E-Mail: [email protected]

Reduced Energy Costs due to Online Monitoring of Water QualityAdvertisement

Reduced energy costs due to online monitoring of water quality According to the US Geological Survey and the German Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy (BKG), in most regions in the United States and Germany, water sources have been classified as hard or very hard. This implicates that virtually any facility in these regions could be vulnerable to incurring extra energy costs due to formation of lime scale in boilers and other negative effects of hard water.

Lime scale is caused by calcium salts contained in hard water, attaching to the surface of metal that they come into contact with, forming a milky-colored, solid layer. In this way, lime scale builds up on the inside surfaces of the pipes and other metal parts of a boiler. This results in a reduction of heat transmission, leading to the immediate effect of a decrease in heating capacity and a high flow resistance - important factors for energy costs. In addition, when it builds up, lime scale on heat transfer surfaces such as tubes may result in local overheating of the tube metal and the formation of cracks on the tube surfaces. Furthermore, a build-up of numerous harmful factors as silicates, sulfate and calcium phosphate in boiler feedwater can lead to further harmful deposits on heat transfer surfaces. The presence of an excessive amount of any one of these substances in boiler feedwater can lead to costs of up to approx. $27,000 per year. When these factors combine to form scale build-ups, the costs due to energy loss, de-scaling operations and further potential damage to the boiler and related equipment can be enormous. Implementing Heylʼs efficient online water quality-monitoring technology in your facility using e.g. boilers or cooling towers is a vital step toward preventing your facility from these risks. The combination of our products, the Testomat® 2000, Softmaster® MMP2 and EcoControl® EC Dos Desalt, leads to less waste water, lower salt usage and cost savings through lower energy demand. Furthermore, longer downtimes due to boiler cleaning can be prevented.

The Testomat® 2000 is our robust online field measuring instrument that analyzes feed water hardness and other parameters such as chlorine, chromate or iron on a quantity- or time-controlled basis. The accompanying Softmaster® MMP2 will initiate the regeneration of a softening unit if acceptable hardness levels are exceeded. Additionally, to avoid corrosion due to salt, the conductivity level of the water can be monitored with the EcoControl® EC Dos Desalt. Testomat ® 2000

Plant operators and facility managers can therefore increase the efficiency of the boiler water softening process. Our system allows operators to detect whether the chemical tank contains the correct level of salt and ensures that the regeneration process is running correctly. Beside boiler facilities, Heyl online water monitoring devices can also be used in cooling towers, swimming pools and for process water treatment. Contact Information: Heyl Brothers North America L.P. Gebrüder Heyl Analysentechnik GmbH & Co. KG 321 North Clark Street, Suite 1425 Chicago, IL 60654 USA

Orleansstr. 75 b DE-31135 Hildesheim Germany

Phone: +1 312-377-6123 Fax: +1 312-644-0738 Email: [email protected]

Telefon: + 49 (0) 51 21 28 933 0 Fax: + 49 (0) 51 21 28 933 67 E-Mail: [email protected]

Find more information on our website: www.heyl.de/index.php/gawtm

Reduced energy costs due to online monitoring of water quality According to the US Geological Survey and the German Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy (BKG), in most regions in the United States and Germany, water sources have been classified as hard or very hard. This implicates that virtually any facility in these regions could be vulnerable to incurring extra energy costs due to formation of lime scale in boilers and other negative effects of hard water.

Lime scale is caused by calcium salts contained in hard water, attaching to the surface of metal that they come into contact with, forming a milky-colored, solid layer. In this way, lime scale builds up on the inside surfaces of the pipes and other metal parts of a boiler. This results in a reduction of heat transmission, leading to the immediate effect of a decrease in heating capacity and a high flow resistance - important factors for energy costs. In addition, when it builds up, lime scale on heat transfer surfaces such as tubes may result in local overheating of the tube metal and the formation of cracks on the tube surfaces. Furthermore, a build-up of numerous harmful factors as silicates, sulfate and calcium phosphate in boiler feedwater can lead to further harmful deposits on heat transfer surfaces. The presence of an excessive amount of any one of these substances in boiler feedwater can lead to costs of up to approx. $27,000 per year. When these factors combine to form scale build-ups, the costs due to energy loss, de-scaling operations and further potential damage to the boiler and related equipment can be enormous. Implementing Heylʼs efficient online water quality-monitoring technology in your facility using e.g. boilers or cooling towers is a vital step toward preventing your facility from these risks. The combination of our products, the Testomat® 2000, Softmaster® MMP2 and EcoControl® EC Dos Desalt, leads to less waste water, lower salt usage and cost savings through lower energy demand. Furthermore, longer downtimes due to boiler cleaning can be prevented.

The Testomat® 2000 is our robust online field measuring instrument that analyzes feed water hardness and other parameters such as chlorine, chromate or iron on a quantity- or time-controlled basis. The accompanying Softmaster® MMP2 will initiate the regeneration of a softening unit if acceptable hardness levels are exceeded. Additionally, to avoid corrosion due to salt, the conductivity level of the water can be monitored with the EcoControl® EC Dos Desalt. Testomat ® 2000

Plant operators and facility managers can therefore increase the efficiency of the boiler water softening process. Our system allows operators to detect whether the chemical tank contains the correct level of salt and ensures that the regeneration process is running correctly. Beside boiler facilities, Heyl online water monitoring devices can also be used in cooling towers, swimming pools and for process water treatment. Contact Information: Heyl Brothers North America L.P. Gebrüder Heyl Analysentechnik GmbH & Co. KG 321 North Clark Street, Suite 1425 Chicago, IL 60654 USA

Orleansstr. 75 b DE-31135 Hildesheim Germany

Testomat 2000 ®

26

Exploring synergies between two countries – best practices in water and energy management to address climate changeIn times of increasing extreme weather occurrences like droughts, flooding, and hurricanes, the topic of mitigation and avoidance of the causes of climate change are becoming more and more important. Decreasing greenhouse gas emissions by increasing efficient water and energy management is crucial in the fight against climate change.

But how exactly is water connected to energy? To provide a simple answer to the question, one could explain that you often use water to produce energy, and that energy is just as well needed to treat and process water. The interdependency of these two complementary resources is becoming more and more susceptible to disruption due to population growth, increasing prices, and climate change. A more thorough definition of the so called water-energy nexus deals with how much

water is used to generate and transmit en-ergy. At the same time how much energy it takes to treat, collect, transport, and con-tain water for later use.

The energy sector is the largest consum-er of water among all industry sectors. According to the Alliance for Water Effi-ciency, an estimated 520 billion kWh were used to move, heat, and treat water in 2005, which accounts for around 13 per-cent of US electricity consumption. And a noteworthy 30 percent of the average municipal energy usage is being used for water and wastewater management.

When implementing climate action plans, policy makers must be aware of the vari-ous sources of energy and how much wa-ter they require in relation to the amount of greenhouse gases each source emits. For example, energy generated by nuclear or fossil fuel power plants, which currently accounts for 90 percent of energy we use, requires 190 billion gallons of water every day (GreenBiz.com, July 31, 2013).

Many cities in the US and Germany are taking on various climate action plans and even more specific programming geared toward the conservation of water and energy in order to reduce their green-

house gas emissions. This has taken place in response to public awareness concern-ing the scarcity of water and the possible shortage thereof. Northeastern Illinois’s Water 2050 Plan seeks to protect and se-cure water supplies for its 11 participating counties. The Chicago Climate Action Plan and its Sustainable Chicago 2015 short-term action plan list water and energy as the two most important sectors for the combat against climate change. Such strategies act as prerequisites to legisla-tion such as Illinois Governor Pat Quinn’s Clean Water Initiative, launched last year, which sets aside 1 billion dollars for the rehab and partial renewal of the state’s aging water infrastructure.

Energy efficiency remains a key concern in contemporary water management strat-egies. Urban and industrial water cycles, including the treatment of groundwater, desalination, transportation, and the heat-ing and cooling of water for various uses, require extensive amounts of energy. Cli-mate action plans throughout the United States call for constant development and adaption to deal with unexpected heavy rainfall, droughts, and flooding, which are key considerations in urban planning. New urban planning is integrating green infrastructure frameworks to manage

The Transatlantic Climate Bridge by the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany


storm water to resemble natural systems of recycling. These new systems provide lower water bills for consumers and in-creased overall energy efficiency.

The challenge of managing water and energy as reciprocals is not only a local or regional aspiration for infrastructure plan-ning. International cooperation has been established as well to deal with climate policy. Within these efforts, the Transat-lantic Climate Bridge, formed in 2008, supports the alliance between the US and Germany to make advancements in the fields of renewable energy, technology, standard of living, energy security, and cli-mate and environmental protection.

Germany’s climate and environmental policies provide examples to US firms and policy makers as to how businesses and

municipalities can thrive on low carbon emissions, also with regards to Germany’s highly efficient water infrastructures. The Transatlantic Climate Bridge’s Climate and Energy Policy Exchanges have allowed US delegates to travel to Germany to witness the rewards of policies geared toward green infrastructure when integrated in business models. The larger goal includes European and American collaboration to tackle economic issues regarding energy security, sustainable water management, and climate protection.

Ever since the German American Chamber of Commerce of the Midwest launched the German American Water Technology in 2012, the Transatlantic Climate Bridge has been a proud sponsor of the program. Furthermore, GACC Midwest has hosted a large variety of events, reaching out to a

broad range of US stakeholders including private industries, researchers, organiza-tions, decision makers, and the corporate world. The Transatlantic Climate Bridge supported the Renewables Roadshow in 2008, 2009 and 2011, as well as the Water Forum in 2011 in Chicago, Illinois and Cin-cinnati, Ohio.

Through this substantial cooperation, the Transatlantic Climate Bridge has paved the way for the exchange of European and American know-how to develop national, state, and local initiatives seeking to take on the challenges of providing newer and cleaner sources of energy.

For more information about the Transatlan-tic Climate Bridge and future events, please see www.germany.info/climatebridge

For decades, Americans and Europeans have joined forces successfully to address the key challenges that have faced us. Today, we have an opportunity to tackle the common challenge of climate change and energy security - together.

A stable climate and sustainable, reliable, and affordable sources of energy are crucial to our economies. A joint commitment to invest in newer, cleaner sources of energy can:

clean up our environment and protect our climate

improve our standard of living

enhance our security

Our Choices Matter

The Transatlantic Climate Bridge: fostering partnerships between Germans and Americans in the climate and energy arena at the local, the state and the federal level.






Our Choices Matter


28

In 2010, the City of Grand Rapids in Mich-igan propelled its five year Sustainability Plan, positioning itself as a regional and national leader in sustainability and resil-iency. The city measures its sustainability related efforts with a total of 227 targets, and reports progress in all areas of sustain-ability: economic prosperity, social equity, good governance, and environmental in-tegrity. The city and the community are fully committed to the principles of sus-tainability and resiliency to support the natural environment, economic system and social infrastructure. Steadfastness towards a more sustainable and resilient future is evidenced in collaboration and partnership throughout the community, through the Community Sustainability Partnership (CSP) and other programs to share best practices, leverage resources, and to transform the Grand Rapids region as the center of sustainability and resilien-cy.

The City of Grand Rapids has been hon-ored nationally and internationally as a leader in the practice of sustainability. Some of the more recent recognitions the city and Mayor Heartwell have received include the 2012 US Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Award, ranking among 12 cities in the US leading the way in sus-tainability on BillMoyers.com, and the EPA’s Top 20 Local Governments in Green Power Partnership, being among the first 45 mayors and communities nationwide to join the pledge to create more resilient cities through Resilient Communities for America (RCA).

Water protection is the key focus area of the city’s work in sustainability and resil-iency. Through his political leadership in the city and on the regional, state, and na-tional levels, Grand Rapids Mayor George K. Heartwell works tirelessly to protect the fresh water resources. In DC, he fights

for the Great Lakes Compact, addressing the Asian Carp threats to the Great Lakes, and advocates for separation of the Great Lakes and Mississippi River watersheds to safeguard from aquatic invasive species through the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative. Mayor Heartwell cautions that much more needs to be done to “pro-tect the treasured water resources in the State and around the nation. We must en-able future generations to have the same access and to be able to enjoy the water assets that we have today. Reducing the negative impact of climate change on our water systems is the next step toward pro-tecting our water resources.”

Grand Rapids has a history of being the first in many different accomplishments and historical events. In early 1945, Grand Rapids was the first community in the United States to fluoridate drinking water to prevent tooth decay. Grand Rapids was

Building Resilient and Sustainable Grand Rapidsby Haris Alibašic, MPA; City of Grand Rapids Office of Energy and Sustainability, Director

Grand River at Downtown Grand Rapids. Photo Credit: Haris Alibašic

The communitywide, collaborative approach to addressing sustainability drives progress in Grand Rapids. Deputy City Manager, Eric DeLong champions the watershed approach and partnerships to improve and protect water quality. He highlights that the “City of Grand Rapids is continuing to invest to improve and protect its water and other natural resources. Grand Rapids’ Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) is all but eliminated, with a plan in place to eliminate all CSOs and to increase the number of green infrastructure projects in the future. Our drinking water is not only of excellent quality, but it is also very inexpensive when compared on a national and international basis, making it a very desirable asset for industrial facilities to locate here. That fact, in addition to our extensive firm water supply, makes Grand Rapids an attractive place to invest, do business, live and study. In order to maintain that attractiveness, we must provide sustainable services, including sustainable protection of natural assets.”

Grand River at Downtown Grand Rapids. Photo Credit: Haris Alibaši�

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also one of the first cities in the nation to codify its climate adaptation and mitiga-tion work in its Sustainability Plan, with a particular focus on the need to prepare for the effects of climate change, reduction of a negative impact from Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, and protection of natural resources. Grand Rapids was the first city in Michigan to adopt a “Take Back the Top” initiative officially ending the purchase of bottled water for any city function, except in an emergency, raising awareness about the negative environmental, health, and economic consequences of buying bot-tled water.

Water Service Delivery and Waters Conservation MeasuresThe City of Grand Rapids provides water, wastewater, storm water, and other public services on a regional basis to a number of municipalities in Kent and Ottawa coun-ties, serving a population of over 280,000 and covering a service area of 137 square-miles. The city’s ability to deliver water services in a timely, cost effective and socially and environmentally conscious way are the most critical components of sustainable water service delivery to resi-dents and businesses.

The city closely aligns its Sustainability Plan with targets and outcomes to pro-tect water resources and deliver water services. Some of these annual outcomes

that are met ahead of schedule include:• Meeting or exceeding 100% of federal

and state drinking water standards with no violations

• Increasing reuse of captured water and/or “gray water” by June 30, 2015• Joellen Thompson, Water System

Manager and champion for water-re-lated sustainability targets and out-comes, reports that “7 Bio-retention islands were installed in Plainfield Avenue to capture rain water from approximately 3 acres. Also, 59 Infil-tration Basins were installed and 25 bulb-out rain gardens were installed

in an effort to capture gray water.”• Reducing the annual customer con-

sumption of water provided by the city’s water system by an additional 3% over FY12 by June 2015. • According to the most recent sus-

tainability report, the water system has been tracking consumption of water overall and on a per meter ba-sis since the year 2000. Over this time, overall consumption in the system has decreased a total of 16.66% or an average of 1.39% per year. During this same time period, average con-sumption per meter has dropped an average of 2.14% per year.

As a result of challenging the members of the Great Lakes Saint Lawrence Cities Ini-tiative to reduce their water consumption by 15%, Grand Rapids has reduced its over-all water consumption by 8.5 billion liters per year (2,25 billion gallons), exceeding the objective of a 15 % reduction before 2015, using the 2000 water consumption as a benchmark. Water conservation was achieved through the implementation of a series of best practices, including a loss reduction program in the city’s water dis-tribution system, public awareness cam-paigns using different communication methods, the use of reused and raw water for irrigation purposes, and changes in the plumbing practices.

Chart: Water consumption per year in Grand Rapids. Source: Water Services Department – 15 Percent Goal Worksheet - looking at “rolling averages” for Billed Volume

conservation was achieved through the implementation of a series of best practices, including a loss reduction program in the city’s water distribution system, public awareness campaigns using different communication methods, the use of reused and raw water for irrigation purposes and changes in the plumbing practices.

Source: Water Services Department – 15 Percent Goal Worksheet - looking at "rolling averages" for Billed Volume

Stormwater Management and Combined Sewer Overflow Separation

Grand Rapids has been leading in the State of Michigan in eliminating combined sewer overflow (CSO) commonly built before the turn of the 20th century. The receiving body of water for combined sewage overflows is the Grand River, a tributary to Lake Michigan and one of the largest rivers in the basin. In the last two decades, the City of Grand Rapids embarked on a comprehensive program to eliminate all combined sewer overflows (CSO) in the city. By making these long-term, strategic investments in infrastructure of almost $300 million to separate sanitary and stormwater systems, Grand Rapids has been successful in achieving a 99.97% reduction in CSOs to date, and has significantly reduced pollution to the Grand River. The city’s Clean Water Plant is a regional leader in the reuse of its treated effluent for plant operations.

Some work still remains for the city to provide critical stormwater management services. A major component in the system wide assessment of the quality of life is the state of the community’s facilities, infrastructure, services and amenities, measured in the amount and quality to meet that community’s needs and expectations.

Chart: Grand Rapids Combined Sewer Overflow History (Billion Gallons) Source: City of Grand Rapids Environmental Services Department

The City of Grand Rapids has recently completed a 20 year citywide stormwater asset management plan that demonstrates how the city’s goal of establishing and delivering certain levels of service may be achieved through effective and sustainable management of the stormwater system. As pointed out in the report, by developing a proactive long-term plan for stormwater asset management, the city will have a sustainable system ensuring the well-being of the community, environment and future generations. Asset management includes the planning, design, construction, operation and maintenance of infrastructure that performs a function for the city.

A big component of the stormwater asset management plan includes the expansion of green infrastructure. Adding green infrastructure preserves water quality in the Grand River. Mike Lunn, Grand Rapids’ Environmental Services Manager emphasizes that “the city’s approach to projects is to first evaluate green infrastructure potentials and incorporate them prior to designing the traditional grey infrastructure.” The stormwater asset management recommends best practices and specific light infrastructure development as well as improvements to the stormwater management, including bio swales, cisterns, wetlands, trees, rain gardens, rain barrels, green roofs, permeable pavement, parks and open spaces, green streets and alleys, and other best practices, controlling water onsite. Green and natural stormwater management systems along environmental and social benefits deliver economic benefits as well. It is also less expensive to maintain them, in comparison to the traditional grey infrastructure. Goals of this

Chart: Grand Rapids Combined Sewer Overflow History (Billion Gallons) Source: City of Grand Rapids Environmental Services Department

Wastewater Plant Expansion CSO Project Starts

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Stormwater Management and Combined Sewer Overflow SeparationGrand Rapids has been leading in the State of Michigan in eliminating com-bined sewer overflow (CSO) commonly built before the turn of the 20th century. The receiving body of water for combined sewage overflows is the Grand River, a tributary of Lake Michigan and one of the largest rivers in the basin. In the last two decades, the City of Grand Rapids em-barked on a comprehensive program to eliminate all combined sewer overflows (CSO) in the city. By making these long-term, strategic investments in infrastruc-ture of almost $300 million to separate sanitary and stormwater systems, Grand Rapids has been successful in achieving a 99.97% reduction in CSOs to date, and has significantly reduced pollution to the Grand River. The city’s Clean Water Plant is a regional leader in the reuse of its treated effluent for plant operations.

Some work still remains for the city to provide critical stormwater management services. A major component in the sys-tem wide assessment of the quality of life is the state of the community’s facilities, infrastructure, services, and amenities, measured in the amount and quality to meet that community’s needs and expec-tations.

The City of Grand Rapids has recently completed a 20 year citywide stormwa-ter asset management plan that demon-strates how the city’s goal of establishing and delivering certain levels of service may be achieved through effective and sustainable management of the stormwa-ter system. As pointed out in the report, by developing a proactive long-term plan for stormwater asset management, the city will have a sustainable system ensur-ing the well-being of the community, en-vironment, and future generations. Asset management includes the planning, de-sign, construction, operation, and main-tenance of infrastructure that performs a function for the city.

A big component of the stormwater asset management plan includes the expansion of green infrastructure. Adding green in-frastructure preserves water quality in the Grand River. Mike Lunn, Grand Rapids’ Environmental Services Manager, empha-sizes that “the city’s approach to projects is to first evaluate green infrastructure potentials and incorporate them prior to designing the traditional grey infrastruc-ture.” The stormwater asset management recommends best practices and specific light infrastructure development as well as improvements to the stormwater man-agement, including bio swales, cisterns, wetlands, trees, rain gardens, rain barrels, green roofs, permeable pavement, parks and open spaces, green streets and alleys, and other best practices, controlling wa-ter onsite. Green and natural stormwater management systems along environmen-tal and social benefits deliver economic benefits as well. It is also less expensive to maintain them in comparison to the tra-ditional grey infrastructure. Goals of this new approach are the paradigm shift on stormwater management that includes proactive planning, and an improved technical approach of doing business.

Energy and Water InfrastructureThe city’s commitment to sustainability is most evident in its energy planning and energy policies, both on the community and organizational levels. Grand Rapids is known as the community with the great-est number of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified buildings per capita than any other U.S.

Source: Water Systems - Solar panel project at 1900 Oak Industrial Drive, Grand Rapids MI

Source: Environmental Services Department example of green infrastructure

new approach are the paradigm shift on stormwater management that includes proactive planning, and an improved technical approach of doing business.

Source: Environmental Services Department example of green infrastructure

Energy and Water Infrastructure

The city’s commitment to sustainability is most evident in its energy planning and energy policies, both on the community and organizational levels. Grand Rapids is known as the community with the greatest number of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified buildings per capita than any other U.S. city. The city is committed to using 100% renewable energy for all municipal structures by 2020, in order to achieve savings in

operations and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and protect the City in case of power outages during heat waves . At this moment, the city either purchases or produces over 22% of all the electricity used by the city-owned structures. The City has installed a 125 KW photovoltaic power generation system using solar panels on the LEED certified water service facility. The system became operational in June of 2012 and is offsetting over 30 percent of the facility’s annual electric consumption, producing over 180,000 KWh of green energy since its installation. The city is evaluating other renewable energy projects, including a potential large-scale solar project at a former landfill site, a solar project at its water filtration plant, and a large-scale bio-digester project at its bio solids operation in partnership with the City of Wyoming. Coupled with its renewable energy focus, the city is committed to reducing its energy consumption. In the last five years, the city reduced its electric consumption alone by over 10%. Further commitment to energy innovation, renewables, and energy conservation is expressed in the city’s sustainability plan.


Solar panel on the city’s water services system building. Photo Credit: Haris Alibašic

Source: Water Systems - Solar panel project at 1900 Oak Industrial Drive, Grand Rapids MI

Solar panel on the city’s water services system building. Photo Credit: Haris Alibaši�

Future of Sustainability in Grand Rapids

Recently, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Urban Waters Federal Partnership selected the proposed Restore the Grand Rapids project as one of the eleven urban community-driven waterway revitalization projects aimed to promote economic, environmental and social enhancement. The project is managed by the Grand Rapids Whitewater, a non-profit organization described on its website as “a group of individuals, rowing and paddling clubs, fishermen and businesses dedicated to helping Green Grand Rapids achieve the dream of putting rapids back in the Grand for everyone’s enjoyment.” The ultimate goal of the project is to create a whitewater park in the Grand River near downtown Grand Rapids that would require the removal of several existing dams. The river restoration has all of the elements of sustainability, including its innovation, its economic drivers that bring tourists downtown, its environmental benefits stemming from healthy waterways, and civic engagement of the public in designing an improved and more sustainable water future in Grand Rapids.

city. The city is committed to using 100% renewable energy for all municipal struc-tures by 2020, in order to achieve savings in operations and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and protect the City in case of power outages during heat waves . At this moment, the city either purchases or produces over 22% of all the electricity used by the city-owned structures. The City has installed a 125 KW photovolta-ic power generation system using solar panels on the LEED certified water service facility. The system became operational in June of 2012 and is offsetting over 30 per-cent of the facility’s annual electric con-sumption, producing over 180,000 KWh of green energy since its installation. The city is evaluating other renewable energy projects, including a potential large-scale solar project at a former landfill site, a so-lar project at its water filtration plant, and a large-scale bio-digester project at its bio solids operation in partnership with the City of Wyoming. Coupled with its renew-able energy focus, the city is committed to reducing its energy consumption. In the last five years, the city reduced its electric consumption alone by over 10%. Fur-ther commitment to energy innovation, renewables, and energy conservation is

expressed in the city’s sustainability plan.

Future of Sustainability in Grand RapidsRecently, the U.S. Environmental Protec-tion Agency’s Urban Waters Federal Part-nership selected the proposed Restore the Grand Rapids project as one of the eleven urban community-driven waterway re-vitalization projects aimed to promote economic, environmental, and social en-hancement. The project is managed by the Grand Rapids Whitewater, a non-profit organization described on its website as “a group of individuals, rowing and pad-dling clubs, fishermen and businesses dedicated to helping Green Grand Rapids achieve the dream of putting rapids back in the Grand for everyone’s enjoyment.” The ultimate goal of the project is to cre-ate a whitewater park in the Grand River near downtown Grand Rapids that would require the removal of several existing dams. The river restoration has all of the elements of sustainability, including its in-novation, its economic drivers that bring tourists downtown, its environmental benefits stemming from healthy water-ways, and civic engagement of the public in designing an improved and more sus-

tainable water future in Grand Rapids.

The communitywide, collaborative ap-proach to addressing sustainability drives progress in Grand Rapids. Deputy City Manager Eric DeLong champions the watershed approach and partnerships to improve and protect water quality. He highlights that the “City of Grand Rapids is continuing to invest to improve and pro-tect its water and other natural resources. Grand Rapids’ Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) is all but eliminated, with a plan in place to eliminate all CSOs and to increase the number of green infrastructure proj-ects in the future. Our drinking water is not only of excellent quality, but it is also very inexpensive when compared on a national and international basis, making it a very desirable asset for industrial facil-ities to locate here. That fact, in addition to our extensive firm water supply, makes Grand Rapids an attractive place to in-vest, do business, live, and study. In order to maintain that attractiveness, we must provide sustainable services, including sustainable protection of natural assets.”

For more information about the City of Grand Rapids’ sustainability efforts, please visit www.sustainablegr.org

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The German American Chambers of Com-merce (GACCs) are one of the largest bilat-eral trade organizations worldwide. With 2,500 member companies and office loca-tions in Atlanta, Chicago and New York as well as branch offices in Detroit, Houston, Philadelphia, and San Francisco, the mem-bers and clients of GACCs benefit from a nation-wide service network. In several states, the GACCs are also represented by local chapters.

The GACCs are an integral part of the network of German Chambers of Com-merce Abroad (AHKs). At 120 locations in 80 countries around the world, the mem-bers of the German Chamber Network offer their experience, connections, and services to German and foreign compa-nies. The service portfolio of the AHKs is unified worldwide under the brand name DEinternational.

In the US, our liaison office in Washington, DC, the Representative of German Indus-try and Trade (RGIT), represents the inter-ests of the German business community vis-à-vis both the US administration and other international organizations based in Washington, DC.

The AHKs cooperate closely with the for-eign trade and inward investment agency of the Federal Republic of Germany – Ger-many Trade & Invest (GTAI).

The German American Chamber of Com-merce of the Midwest (GACC Midwest), headquartered in Chicago, and with a branch office in Detroit, was founded in 1963. Our continuing mission is to further, promote, and assist in the expansion of bilateral trade and investment between Germany and the United States, especially the Midwest.

GACC Midwest’s territory covers 14 US states: the 13 states of the Midwest (Il-linois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin) and Colorado, comprising to-

gether approximately one quarter of the nation’s geographical area, its population, and its GDP.

With over 800 members, GACC Midwest enables its members to socialize and build important business relationships throughout its network.

Our organization combines elements of a trade commission, a membership asso-ciation, and a professional consultancy - quite a unique concept in international trade promotion. More specifically, the Chamber’s three pillars consist of:

1. Public FunctionBeing the official representatives of Ger-man companies, AHKs are key players of German foreign business development on behalf of the Federal Republic of Ger-many. The GACCs represent German busi-ness interests in the US.

2. Member OrganizationThe GACCs are a member organization for companies actively involved in bilateral business relations. As a reliable partner for

both US and German companies, we offer excellent services to our members. The GACCs interact with political organiza-tions and businesses in terms of promot-ing the bilateral business relations and facilitate trade and investment.

3. Professional Consultancy and Service ProviderThe GACCs’ service portfolio brand “DEin-ternational” provides consulting services to companies both from Germany and in the US in order to support their foreign business activities.

The German American Chambers of Commerce Network

Our National Network


We proudly present our annual signature events for 2014. These highly anticipated events provide the German-American business community in the Midwest with unique opportunities to meet high-rank-ing representatives of transatlantic rela-tions in business and politics.

Annual Economic Forum January 30, 2014At the beginning of each year, around 200 executives get together for the Ger-man American Chambers of Commerce’s Annual Economic Forum. Top speakers from both sides of the Atlantic identify current economic developments in the international, and in particular, the Ger-man-American business world. Attendees from a variety of industries, companies, and backgrounds listen to high-ranking speakers from the US and Europe to dis-cuss synergies and business opportuni-ties.

MERLIN Awards Gala May 2, 2014 Another highlight of the year and one of our greatest traditions is the MERLIN Awards Gala, named after one of the founders of the German American Cham-ber of Commerce of the Midwest, Peter H. Merlin. More than 350 top executives from the German-American business commu-nity of the Midwest and their guests at-tend this prestigious event.

Annual Executive Wine Dinner November 7, 2014 The Annual Executive Wine Dinner is one of GACC Midwest’s finest events featuring unique wine from Germany and other European countries paired with an ex-quisite seven-course meal. The evening starts with a refreshing cocktail reception followed by a gourmet sit-down dinner. The Annual Executive Wine Dinner is truly a perfect event to entertain clients, co-workers, and friends alike.

In addition to our signature events, GACC Midwest offers the following events in 2014:• Chicago Hamburg Business Forum

(year-long): On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Chicago-Ham-burg sister city relationship, the 2014 CHBF will include a series of events tak-ing place in both cities.

• German American Business Forum in Munich (June): Again, high-level ex-ecutives of German subsidiaries in the US will present their success stories and talk about how to get involved in the US market.

• Water Technology Event Series (year-long): The GAWT Initiative continues in 2014

• Knowledge Exchange: Our monthly lecture series featuring relevant topics with select industry experts.

• German International Night Recep-tions: Our exclusive events at major Chicago trade shows where attendees can meet potential partners and clients; e.g. at our German Night @ IMTS 2014.

• Energy Efficient Transportation Sys-tems Business Delegation and Con-ference in Chicago (May): German companies that are seeking US busi-ness partners will be presenting their innovative technologies

• Bioenergy Business Delegation and Conference in Wisconsin and Califor-nia (June): German companies that are seeking US business partners will be presenting their innovative technolo-gies

• Energy Efficiency Innovation Semi-nars (fall): Next year, our seminar series will focus on energy-efficient transpor-tation systems

For more information, please visit our website.

Get involved in our events!

We would be delighted to welcome you at our events. Please feel free to contact us with any questions.

German American Chamber of Commerce of the Midwest, Inc.321 North Clark Street, Suite 1425Chicago, IL 60654-4714Tel.: +1 (312) 644-2662Fax: +1 (312) 644-0738Email: [email protected]: www.gaccmidwest.org

Upcoming GACC Midwest Programs 2014

Economic Forum

Merlin Awards Gala

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GACC Midwest has been supporting Ger-man and American companies in transat-lantic business for over 50 years.

Profit from our extensive experience in both American and German business environments and our vast industry knowledge. Our intercultural, bilingual team specializes in effectively initiating German-American business relationships and establishing German companies in the US. We represent and support com-panies both in the short and long-term, focusing all of our efforts on ensuring a successful future for your company in the German-American business world.

To ensure professional support, GACC Midwest – under the service brand DEin-ternational – has developed a wide range of services to assist German and US com-panies in their efforts to expand interna-tionally.

Market Entry & Business Development ServicesOur market entry and business develop-ment services support your market entry in the US or Germany and set the founda-tion for your long-term success. With mar-ket analysis, targeted search for business partners, a virtual office, site selection ser-vices or trade show support, we facilitate your market entry activities.

Market ResearchMarket insight and knowledge of the competitive landscape are essential for companies considering an expansion in their transatlantic business activities. We carry out a precise and objective analysis of your market potential and make stra-tegic recommendations, enabling you to position your company for long-term suc-cess. Business Partner SearchAn individual business partner search features a direct and purposeful evalu-ation of sales and distribution partners.

Establishing contact with potential part-ners takes place via our interdisciplinary project team. Our objective is to help you build concrete business relationships as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Virtual OfficeOur US virtual office is the connection be-tween your overseas company and your business in the US. Enhance your US mar-ket potential through a presence in the market. Beyond a downtown Chicago ad-dress and phone number for your compa-ny, benefit from support activities carried out by our bilingual team. Site Selection & Support in Founding a US SubsidiaryThe complexity of the site selection pro-cess requires a partner experienced in the US market. Our service encompasses a broad and objective analysis based on your individual catalogue of search crite-ria for the optimal US location. We inde-pendently and objectively find the opti-mal location for your company as well as organize site visits. Trade Show SupportExtensive preparation, solid outreach and prompt follow-up activities are the keys to a successful trade show in the US. Our team is available to you as an on-the-ground contact in Chicago prior to and during a show. We help you to set up meetings prior to the show and provide on-site support in order to be as time-ef-fective as possible. If you want to learn more about our mar-ket entry and business development ser-vices, please contact Virginia Attaway Rounds at [email protected] or +1 (312) 494-2163.

HR ServicesWith our HR services, we offer full-cycle recruitment support for open positions at your company. We also coach your US and/or German employees to learn the most important intercultural differences

in work environment and prepare them for business meetings, presentations as well as for all communication with clients and colleagues.

If you need support in filling an open posi-tion at your company, please contact Justin Flaxbart at [email protected] or +1 (312) 644-3369.

Event & Delegation ServicesAs event service provider, we support the preparation, organization, and realization of your business events in various formats. In addition to that, we organize delega-tion visits to the US and business trips to Germany.

If you need support in organizing your event or a delegation visit, please contact Nadine Schieban at [email protected] +1 (312) 494-2180.

Our Services

Publisher & Editor

German American Chamber of Commerce of the Midwest, Inc.321 North Clark Street, Suite 1425Chicago, IL 60654-4714Tel.: +1 (312) 644-2662Fax: +1 (312) 644-0738Email: [email protected]: www.gaccmidwest.org

Conception & TextDr. Petra StieningerNadine SchiebanJasmin Welter

Layout & DesignRiverside Graphicswww.riversidegx.com

Notes© German American Chamber of Commerce of the Midwest, Inc., October 2013

Reproduction in whole or in part of any article is prohibited without permission. Editor and publisher cannot accept any liability for the accuracy or completeness of any material published. Contributed articles do not necessarily reflect the Chamber’s position.

If you have any comments regarding articles in this magazine, please contact us.

Imprint

Platinum Sponsors 2013

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