In the minds of the Danes, there is an absolute confidence that they can drink tap water directly from the tap every day.
A few days ago, a reporter from China Environment News came to this country surrounded by the sea. Finn Mortensen, Executive Director of Green Nation, is a "big user" of tap water, and in his opinion, the quality of tap water in Denmark is higher than any bottled water available on the market.
A crystal clear river in the heart of Copenhagen, Denmark. Photo by Niu Qiupeng
The reporter saw that bottled water is not provided in Danish hotels, not only because bottled water is expensive, but also because in most Danes' concepts, tap water tastes cool and tastes better than bottled water.
With some doubts, the reporter went to the Danish Ministry of the Environment, and Mathilde Hafran, the head of clean drinking water, showed the reporter a map of Denmark's national water supply, on which there are more than 2,000 distributed water supply systems, most of which are small wells.
Water supply system throughout Denmark. Courtesy of the Danish Ministry of the Environment
"Ninety-nine per cent of Denmark's drinking water comes from groundwater, which is why Denmark has taken a number of measures to protect groundwater, especially from pesticides." Mathilde Hafran said.
With an area of just over 40,000 square kilometers and a population of less than 6 million, Denmark is a veritable agricultural country, with abundant and uniform rainfall throughout the year.
Mathilde Hafran told reporters that the reason for drinking groundwater is, on the one hand, to ensure that groundwater is maintained at a safe and stable water level; On the other hand, the overuse of surface water not only affects the balance of ecosystems, but also reduces the habitat of aquatic organisms and destroys biodiversity.
In order to ensure that groundwater is not contaminated by pesticides, the Danish Parliament has launched a pesticide leaching assessment program since 1998, and as of June 2022, a total of 53 pesticides and 103 degradation products have been monitored.
Extracting groundwater is not a simple task. According to Mathilde Hafran, Denmark has built a model for detecting clean groundwater sources, with a focus on monitoring soil types and avoiding pesticides as much as possible.
Denmark attaches great importance to the protection, purification and rational use of groundwater resources, from groundwater extraction, cleaning, transportation to sewage treatment and return to water bodies, which also determines that Denmark's water price is at a high level in the world.
In the capital Copenhagen, the current water price is 53.7 Danish kroner per cubic meter, about 55.9 yuan per cubic meter, which is borne by consumers. However, according to Mathilde Hafran, because Danes attach great importance to water security, they are "willing to pay for safe and clean drinking water", and the government is also guiding the whole population to save water through price control.
According to data released by the Danish Water and Wastewater Association in October 2023, in 2022, each Dane used an average of 100 litres of water per day, setting a new record low in terms of water consumption.
Leakage of water pipes is a problem for most countries around the world, and Denmark is no exception.
In 2022, the leakage rate of tap water in Denmark was 7%. In this regard, Denmark actively promotes enterprises to improve the advanced equipment to reduce the water loss rate.
In the factory of Grundfos Group, the reporter saw that the group is also carrying out digital transformation of its pump products, and one of the important application directions is to reduce the water loss rate.
In addition to the safety of drinking water, Denmark also attaches great importance to wastewater treatment. Jonas Gade, special adviser to the Danish Ministry of Environment, told reporters that as early as 1987, Denmark issued the "Water Resources Environmental Protection Action Plan" to put forward strict requirements for sewage treatment. By the 90s of the 20th century, the sewage discharge standard of sensitive waters was further improved, and the Danish sewage treatment technology was also improved.
According to reports, the Danish sewage treatment plant focuses on maintaining the cleanliness of the water source and monitoring the quality of tap water, regularly submitting water samples to the Danish national laboratory for monitoring, and dealing with problems as soon as they are found.
Due to the emphasis on sewage treatment, the content of harmful substances such as pesticides and heavy metals in Danish water bodies has been significantly reduced. Denmark is now aiming to tackle climate change.
"Wastewater treatment produces about 0.5% of all greenhouse gases in Denmark." Jonas Gad said Danish water utilities are working towards the national goal of "reducing carbon emissions by 70% by 2030".