This year, the Water Day – 22 March, gathered in New York state leaders, global companies, experts and visionaries for the widest talk on water organized for already 48 years – The UN Water Conference. More information for the topics discussed during the global meeting was provided to the students from the Business Administration Faculty of Sofia University and their lecturers by Veolia’s Vice President of Public Affairs Dominique Gatel, one of Veolia’s representatives at the forum. From New York, he joined the talk organized by Sofiyska Voda, operated by Veolia, and the university on the occasion of the Water Day in Sofia. “The economic, social and environmental development go hand in hand – this is the concept of Veolia, which coincides at 100% with the UN goals”, said Gatel and focused on the expectations for achieving cooperation and synergy at a global level between the international institutions, states, science, business and NGOs for the conservation of the valuable water resource.

   
What this concept looks like through the eyes of the business model, with which the WSS network in Sofia is operated, recounted Lyubomir Filipov, Strategic Partnerships and Regulation Director at Sofiyska Voda.  “We have been developing Sofiyska Voda for years already in the direction, for which the UN called at the conference – the sustainable development of the water resources. As part of a global company, we can rely on the know-how on a large scale because we exchange experience within the Group. It is also very important for us to leave the analogue era and become more digital. You can see in real time on our website where we work on repairing failures; we monitor and show what the water quality is; we constantly develop the mobile application My Water as well.  

Veselin Dimitrov, Deputy Director of Sewerage and Wastewater Treatment and Energy Neutral Business at the company, also spoke about the innovations leading to a more efficient management of the resources. He recounted about the installations for the production of biogas from sludge at Sofiyska Voda’s wastewater treatment plant – Kubratovo, which covers 100 percent of its energy needs with it, as well as about the company’s ambition to reach energy neutrality towards 2025. Thanks to these installations, the plant ranks second in terms of energy efficiency across the Veolia Group, which operates in 66 countries. 

How the water of Sofia is treated before it reaches our taps was shown in a live broadcast from the Bistritsa Treatment Plant by Plamen Zelenkov, Potable Water Treatment Manager, Monika Trencheva, Water Supply Control Room Manager, and Valentin Milushev, Deputy Director of Water Supply, Potable Water Treatment and Measurement. 
Ivaylo Chipev, who started from the IT Department of Sofiyska Voda and who is now financial controller of the company, talked about the journey from the university bench in the Faculty of Business Administration to the realization of inspiring projects as a member of Sofiyska Voda’s team. 

“This year we celebrate 20 years since the beginning of our partnership with Sofiyska Voda”, reminded Assoc. Prof. Atanas Georgiev, Dean of the Faculty of Business Administration, the meeting’s host. “We have also set the goal of launching soon the first master’s program dedicated to the management of the water sector”, added Assoc. Prof. Marina Stefanova, PhD, lecturer at the faculty.
The shared ideas also generated many questions that gave rise to future discussions.