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Agenda • Water resources in Sweden • Levels of administration • Responsibility for supply of water and wastewater • Supervising and protection of drinking water • The use of water • Technical facts about water and wastewater within the responsibility of municipalities • Regulations and finance • Different and changing conditions
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Water resources
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Water resources in Sweden • Sweden is rich in water • Lakes account for 9 % of the total area of the country • There are almost 100 000 lakes • 0.5 % of the theoretically available resource is extracted for municipal use (mostly drinking water) • Other users of water in Sweden, such as industry and farming, withdraw approximately three times as much water as the municipal sector 4
Water resources in Sweden • Apart from the southeastern part of Sweden, the largest islands and the archipelago islands, water supply constitutes no major problems due to the abundance of available resources. • The quality of raw water varies and thus the level of treatment needed.
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Levels of administration
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Levels of administration
International level: European Union
National/Central level: Parliament (Riksdagen) and the Government (Regeringen)
Levels of administration
Central level: Parliament (Riksdagen) and the Government (Regeringen)
Regional level: County Administration (Länsstyrelse)
Local level: Municipalities (kommun) 8
Administration – International level • The European Council (Europarådet) • Draws up guidelines for EU activities in the long term • Does not make any decisions regarding EU rules
• The European Commission (Europakommissionen) • Charged with the task of proposing new laws. All the member states each have one Commissioner • The European Parliament (Europaparlamentet) • The European Parliament participates in deciding on the EU's new laws • In the case of most issues, the European Parliament decides together with the 9 Council of Ministers
Administration – Central level • The parliament (Riksdagen) and the Government (Regeringen) • Responsible for legislation and regulations
• Authorities and Agencies • Responsible for guidance and monitoring
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Administration – Regional level
• 21 County Administrations (Länsstyrelser) • Responsible for examination, supervision, and co-ordination of Water and wastewater (among others)
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Administration – Local level • 290 Municipalities (kommuner) • Responsible for planning, construction and operation of the facilities for water and wastewater. • The municipalities own these facilities within their own operation. • The median size of a municipality is 16 000 inhabitants. • The largest municipality is Stockholm, more than 700 000 inhabitants • The smallest, Bjurholm, less than 3 000 inhabitants.
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Responsibility for supply of water and wastewater
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Water and wastewater – Responsibility of municipalities
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Administration – Local level
Water & Wastewater: Within the municipality
Water: Within the municipality Wastewater: To a nearby municipality
Water and wastewater: Two or more municipalities in association
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Water and wastewater – Private responsibility
Figur från Avloppsguiden.se
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Water supply and wastewater treatment Water supply
Public: Surface water (200) Public: Artificial groundwater (140) Public: Groundwater (>1700)
• More than 2000 publicly owned water works • 90 % of the population are customers to the publicly owned water works (and waste water treatment plants) • 10 % of the population are supplied from privately owned water wells and springs and take care of their waste water
Private: Groundwater
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Supervision and protection of drinking water 18
Drinking water – classified as a foodstuff • The Ministry of Agriculture and the National Food Administration (Livsmedelsverket) – Supervising agency for Drinking water quality • On a local level the municipal committee for environment and health exercises supervision • National regulations for drinking water quality
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Water quality problems • Microorganisms – cause diseases and health problems • Aeromonas hydrophila • Campylobacter • Clostridium perfringens • Cryptosporidium • Ehec (E. coli) • Giardia • Chemicals – cause technical or esthetical problems OR health problems • Pesticides • Lead • Fluorine • Uranim • Copper • Iron
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Climate change and water quality/quantity
Heavy rain
Storms
Erosion Flood Landslide
Increased water temperatures
Drought
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Protection of water resources Water protection areas
Knowledge and perception Rediness to act in case of an emergency Strategic planning
Supervision
Physical barriers
Information 22
Water – ready to drink
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The use of water
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Distribution of produced water Difference between production and consumtion
Household Hushåll
20%
Industri
Internal water Consumption 16% (production) 8% Hospitals/ 8% schools Industries
48%
Sjukhus skolor etc. Intern vattenanvändning Skillnad producerad/debiterad
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The use of water in households
Total amount of 200 litres per person and day 26
Water use over time
From: Facts on water supply and sanitation in Sweden (The Swedish Water & Wastewater Association) 27
Technical facts about water and wastewater within the responsibility of municipalities 28
Drinking water and wastewater in the cities
Figur från Svenskt Vattens publikation P110 (remissutgåva 2014)
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Public water and wastewater zones (verksamhetsområden, VO) • Verksamhetsområden (VO) are geographical areas within the municipality where water and wastewater is a public responsibility. • VO is defined through the city council (Kommunfullmäktige) • Within VO, the local legislation ABVA is valid (Allmänna bestämmelser för brukande av den allmänna VA-anläggningen = rules for usage of the public water and wastewater utilities) • Within VO, the customers must pay a water fee. • VO can be divided into drinking water, wastewater and stormwater. • Houses outside VO have no legal right to be connected to water services. • Every house is connected through a specific connection point. This is usually placed 0,5 m outside the border of the property.
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Trycknivå i zonen
The drinking water system Helt fylld ledning/ full pipe
Högreservoar/ water tower
Tryckzon/ pressure zone
VV
Tryckstegringsstation/ booster station
Water production Disinfection/ pH-adjustment
Surface waterworks Flocculant
Screen
Sedimentation
Filtration
Slow
Rapid
Low reservoir
Groundwaterworks pH-adjustment
Well
Aeration
Rapid filter
Figure from Svenskt Vatten
Low reservoir
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Alternative groundwater works
pH-adjustment
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Wastewater system
Reningsverk/ Wastewater treatment plant
Pumpstation/ Sewer pump station
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Wastewater treatment Common need of treatment is BOD, N and P Mechanical treatment
Figure from Svenskt Vatten
Biological treatment
Chemical treatment
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Sludge from WWTP • Pollutants from society end up in the sludge • Important to trace sources of pollution in the wastewater system
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Sludge – part of the cycle of nutrients
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Pipe renewal • Water and wastewater pipes in Sweden would reach four times around the globe if they were connected together • The rate of renewal is currently very low, and needs to increase
Figur från Svenskt Vatten
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Stormwater system
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Stormwater (dagvatten) Flood damage has increased over time
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Stormwater (dagvatten) Heavy rain events
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2016-06-03
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2016-06-03
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2016-06-03
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2016-06-03
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Dagvatten in the city planning process • Hard to enforce regulations on private landowners through the physical and strategic planning • Not possible to regulate stormwater treatment based on the Water and wastewater law • Important that the Water and wastewater department in the municipality take an active part in the planning process at an early stage
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Example of how to control stormwater
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Existing developments are a problem • New building permits increase the density of urban areas • Important to carry out flooding analyses and cloudburst mapping
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Regulations and finance 51
Legislation • • • •
The law about public water services = Lagen om allmänna vattentjänster Environmental law = Miljöbalken National food act = Livsmedelslagen Planning and building act = Plan- och bygglagen
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National Food Agency’s drinking water regulations. SWWA:s handbooks (Svenskt Vatten) Swedish environmental quality objectives EU-directives Action plans Directives from different authorities
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Public Water Supply and Wastewater Systems Act =Lagen om allmänna vattentjänster (LAV): 1§: The provisions of this Act is to ensure that water supply and sewage are arranged in a larger context, if necessary for the protection of human health or the environment. 6§: If, with regard to the protection of human health and the environment water supply or sewage needs to be arranged in the wider context of a specific existing or future buildings, the municipality: 1. should determine the geographical area in which the water service or water services need to be arranged, and 2. ensure that the need as soon as possible, and as long as the need exists, is met with
the creation of a public water supply system.
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Swedish water and wastewater association (Svenskt Vatten) • SWWA, was set up by the municipalities in 1962 to assist with technical, economic and administrative issues. • SWWA represent the interests of the municipalities in negotiations with authorities and other organisations on regulations etc. • All 290 municipalities are members. • Small organisation, 20 persons are employed at the office in Stockholm. • Contribution from the members is important. www.svensktvatten.se 54
Economy LAV 30 §: The charges may not exceed the amount needed to cover the necessary costs for organisation and operation of the water and wastewater supply.
Thus, it is illegal to fund other municipal activities by the water tariff : • Land rent for the pipe systems. • Extra interest on loans within the municipality. • Financing of aesthetic added value for stormwater facilities. • Free temporary water and wastewater at sporting events. • Discount to large water consumers.
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Water and wastewater tariff • City council decides the tariff. • Connection fee, when connection to the public water services. • Annual fee for connected houses. Usually an annual connection fee and a usage fee kr/m3. • The tariff should be designed in a way that Connection fee corresponds to the actual costs. • There are some opportunities to create incentives to control usage via the tariff, but it must correspond to Special real costs. connection fee • Special tariff can be applied if certain conditions exist. • Money can be funded to a certain investment goal. • Increased renovation demands, development demands for water and wastewater supply and climate factors are raising the costs for water and wastewater.
Tariff Annual fee
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Tap water
1 m³ = 1000 litres Price: 40 SEK = 0.04 SEK/L
vs
bottled water
0,5 litres Price: 20 SEK = 40 SEK/L 57
Tap water
vs
bottled water
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Different and changing conditions
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Different places – different conditions • Size of the municipality (3 000-700 000 persons) • Number of water works and waste water works within the municipality (0-30