Resilience in Times of Crisis: Why the Water Treatment Division Looks to the Future with Confidence

A Year in Review by Alexander Marka, Head of Sales at Donau Chemie Wassertechnik

As of October, the Water Treatment Division is already looking back on an eventful year in 2026. Two particularly unexpected challenges called for swift action and creative solutions. We were able to overcome them thanks to the solidarity and cooperation of our employees, partners and customers.

Production Halt in Brückl

The shock came in early February. At 2 a.m. on the first Saturday of the month, a fire broke out in the 20 kV switchgear, causing a sudden power outage across the entire plant. Production came to a standstill.

The first measures were taken that very same day. Securing an emergency power supply was crucial to ensuring that the plant could be shut down safely. In chemical production, an emergency shutdown must be followed by thorough flushing to prevent damage to the equipment.

At the same time, all planned incoming and outgoing deliveries were suspended.

It quickly became clear that no trucks carrying precipitation chemicals would be leaving the Brückl plant for some time.

Force Majeure: An Unavoidable Event

An incident of this kind, which we could neither have prevented nor averted despite taking every possible precaution, occurred on this scale for the first time in the history of Donau Chemie Wassertechnik.

We had to cancel the deliveries scheduled for the following days. From Monday onwards, the sales team remained in constant contact with customers and explored every possible option to secure products for those facing critically low stock levels.

This was when the long-term strategic approach of the Chemie Group proved its worth: our sister plant in Kazincbarcika ramped up production and supported us by supplying all products available to it.

Ingenuity and Team Spirit

By the beginning of the week, we had a clear overview of the situation and were able to estimate that it would take around two weeks to resume operations. Repair work was progressing at full speed. The initial shock was quickly overcome, and everyone pulled together to get things moving again. Of course, not everything went perfectly, but we made it through this exceptional situation successfully.

At this point, I would like to thank the teams in Brückl, Kazincbarcika and Vienna, as well as our partners, who helped ensure that Water Treatment customers received the products they needed. I would also like to thank our customers themselves for their flexibility and understanding during this challenging time.

And Then Came the Middle East …

Just as operations in Brückl had returned to normal, tensions escalated in the Middle East in spring. The significant increase in diesel prices resulting from the armed conflicts was something we also had to reflect in our cost calculations.

A Fair Approach to Rising Costs

Our solution was to introduce a temporary transport surcharge. Since then, we have listed this component of transport costs as a separate item on our invoices. This ensures transparency and allows us to respond fairly and flexibly to ongoing developments.

We continuously monitor prices at the pump, negotiate with freight carriers and pass on only the additional costs actually incurred to our customers.

As of October 2026, there is no clear indication of how the situation in the Middle East will develop. We hope the conflict will be resolved soon.

Why We Remain Confident

These two incidents demonstrate that the Water Treatment Division cannot easily be thrown off course by unexpected events. This is thanks to all of you—our suppliers, partners and customers—who stand together even in difficult circumstances.

Production is running smoothly again, and deliveries are being made reliably and on time.

And we can reveal this much: we have several exciting developments in the pipeline, and there will soon be something to celebrate. Stay tuned!