BergerWorld: 4th Quarter 2004

Derish Wolff
Chairman

Chairman’s Message

The earliest civilizations arose on fertile river banks. Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indus and ancient China all flourished as a result of their proximity to water. Modern civilizations still remain dependent on adequate fresh water. However, more than one billion people worldwide do not have access to safe drinking water or proper sanitation. Providing these services is one of the most important challenges planners and officials face in the 21st century.

To fund these crucial upgrades, many water and sewage programs focus on reducing subsidies and encouraging the recipient communities and water users to pay an increasing share of the development costs. While Berger has supported these efforts, they often lead to the wealthier communities being in more favorable positions to receive loans for sanitary improvements, while lower income communities lag. To address this disparity, Berger is active in a number of innovative programs to encourage lower income communities to participate in the development of cost-effective water and wastewater treatment facilities through community-based initiatives. In the past few years, Berger has worked with communities in Macedonia, Croatia, Nigeria and Cambodia to develop new water sources and build more affordable wastewater treatment plants.

Berger experts are also improving existing water and wastewater treatment systems in Jordan, Panama, Romania and the United States, fostering public/private partnerships and increased private investment and expanding water supplies in Southeast Asia, the British Virgin Islands, Cyprus and Vietnam. To address the challenges of water and sewer development at a broad level, the Group is conducting training sessions for public and private water system operators and organizing a number of important regional conferences on critical water issues.

The Berger Group is proud to work around the world increasing access to potable water and modern sewage treatment and improving the quality of life for thousands of people. We are pleased to highlight some of our recent accomplishments in this issue of BergerWorld.