Municipal water supply, 2009

Altogether, the municipal waterworks produced 706 million m³ of water, which is down 3 per cent compared to 2008.

Booster pumps need to be used in many areas of Norway in order to transport the water to the consumers. On average, there are around 6 booster pumps every 100 kilometres of water pipelines. If the pressure should drop, there is a risk that polluted water from the outside may enter the pipeline system. Thus, it is important to reduce pressure drops to a minimum by renewing old pipelines and having good routines for planned stops in the water supply.

34 year-old pipeline system

The estimated length of the municipal water pipelines is nearly 41 400 kilometres, the same as the earth’s circumference at the equator.

Old pipeline systems with potential for leakage may increase the likelihood of polluting the drinking water being transported. Thus, renewal of pipelines is important. Around 50 per cent (21 000 kilometres) of the municipal pipeline system was laid between 1971 and 2000. The estimated average age is calculated to 34 years. Still, large differences in age exist between and within the municipalities.

Tendency to increased renewal

The renewal activity varies. Calculated as a 3-year moving average for the period 2006-2008, the rate of renewal is 0.81 per cent of the total length of water pipelines. For the period 2002-2004, the rate was 0.48 per cent. Based on the latest statistics, the trend is towards an increase in the renewal of municipal water pipelines.

Satisfactory water quality

Around 4.1 million inhabitants in Norway were connected to the 1 055 municipal water works located in the country. This corresponds to 84.5 per cent of the population.

In 2009, a total of 98, 97, 81 and 96 per cent respectively were connected to municipal waterworks that provided water with satisfactory content of thermo-tolerant intestinal bacteria ( E . coli ), intestinal enterococci, colour and levels of acidity (pH).