Please note that the article is more than five years old and belongs to our archive. We do not update the content of the archives, so it may be necessary to consult newer sources.
/nginx/o/2014/03/28/2921218t1h5e0f.jpg)
/nginx/o/2013/09/06/2341041t1hb609.jpg)
As at this September, Estonia still featured 177 water supply systems with quality of water not conformable to established standards. Starting New Year, such drinking water may no longer be sold in Estonia.
For these companies, a couple of months remain to bring their water up to the required level, as all licences issued are valid till January 1st 2014. Should they fail to do that, Health Board has the right to initiate state supervision proceedings towards enterprises supplying substandard water and demand coercion money up to €640 or initiate misdemeanour procedure leading to fines up to €3,200.
Even though nearly a tenth of consumers are getting substandard water from the water supply, Health Board assures us this poses no health hazard.
«Drinking water non-conformity to indicators usually means excessive iron, manganese, ammonium, and chloride content, which are natural by origin,» said Kairi Pikk, a specialist at Health Board.
«Often, high iron content is caused by high iron levels in groundwater or old iron piping, which may considerably worsen water quality,» she explained.
According to Ms Pikk, water supply problems are spread evenly all over Estonia, wherefore she may not point at specific regions. The reasons for low quality vary, she said; even so, often it is caused by lack of money or complicated ownership relations.
As told to Radio Kuku by Health Board senior environmental health specialist Knut Tamm, Estonia is not troubled by the taste of water.
«One will not usually notice the taste; with taste, the problems in Estonia are very few. The main problem is excessive iron and manganese content,» said he.
According to Mr Tamm, the excessive content of such substances will be noticed, for instance, by clothes turning yellowish when washed.
As assured by Health Board, drinking in excessive amounts of iron and manganese is not dangerous. Why, then, is it desired to lower the content thereof in drinking water?
«This is because such water also damages household appliances and it is specified in Estonia’s very EU membership treaty that this is to be fixed,» said Mr Tamm.
According to him, they will definitely try to avoid a situation where a part of Estonia will have no water.
«Supplying drinking water is also a responsibility of local government and should small companies have problems, they can surely turn to local governments to find some kind of an agreement and get the water fixed,» said Mr Tamm.
«With no hazard to human health, Health Board will not go about closing taps,» he added.