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Several actors sound the alarm about a “huge backlog” in the water and sewerage system in the municipalities. The inhabitants have to pay to solve this problem. Today, an average Norwegian household pays an average of NOK 10,000 per year for these services. In 20 years, the price could be 30,000.
HIDDEN: Flytoget runs above ground. Underground, operators, engineers and a complex system provide clean drinking water and the ability to flush after a bathroom visit.
Odin Jæger, E24
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More boil warnings, more and more incidents, more water pipe breaks, construction stoppages and more pollution in rivers and lakes could be the future if no action is taken, the water and sewer industry believes.
– We cannot underestimate the seriousness, says the director Thomas Breen of the industrial organization Norsk Vann to E24.
Norwegian municipalities are responsible for ensuring that residents have clean drinking water and that wastewater is treated well enough. But for too many years, little has been invested in this area, according to the industry organization Norsk Vann.
The consequence is what is described as a “huge delay” in Norwegian treatment plants.
– We have not received sufficient funds, so we have not maintained the facilities as well as we should, says the general director of the inter-municipal company Nedre Romerike Avløpsselskap (NRA) and Nedre Romerike Vannverk (NRV), Thomes Trømborg.
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1970s: Despite some updates, much of the NRA facilities are as they were about 40 years ago, says development manager Gunnar Bjørnson.
Odin Jæger, E24
One billion needs
Far in the mountains, many meters below ground below the center of Strømmen, are the NRA / NRV facilities.
Here, companies provide drinking water and a functioning sewage system for 170,000 people in several large municipalities in eastern Norway.
– We’re pretty good in the mud, like most people. We have a plan, but it costs a lot of money to fix the backlog. It’s money we don’t have today, says Thomes Trømborg at NRA / NRV.
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NEW AND OLD: Raw sewage reaches the first and newest facility. Here, the largest particles are removed, before the water is sent for biological purification. This is happening in the old swimming pool, which has not been upgraded since the treatment plant opened in 1972. The price of the new plant, which was completed last year, was around NOK 50 million.
Odin Jæger
For many years, very little money has been spent on improvements and operation of the treatment plant, the company believes. Now they warn that the water treatment plant does not have enough capacity to face the future. At the same time, they refer to increasingly stringent requirements by the authorities.
– The drainage part is more worn. It’s a 1970s facility that bears the mark of being a 1970s facility, says department manager and development manager Gunnar Bjørnson.
Over the next 16 years, NRA / NRV has a total investment need of NOK 5.5 billion, according to the company’s master plan.
– We have an old facility that needs to be renovated. We must increase productivity due to population growth and climate change, says General Manager Trømborg.
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SLUDGE: In a huge tank, so-called plastic biomedics collect sludge particles. The process causes the sludge to accumulate into dry lumps, which eventually fall to the bottom of the tank.
Odin Jæger
Trømborg believes that Norway’s method of financing health and treatment facilities makes future planning impossible.
He points out that a large part of what happens occurs inside closed and inaccessible facilities, and that this in turn leads to prioritizing above all the value of what can be seen with “the naked eye”.
– Instead of opening a tank to see how it is inside, keep going until it stops. Then there will be a costly post-maintenance cost, where there are arms and legs to make things come together, rather than having planned maintenance.
DECLINATION: Norsk Vann describes the delay in the Norwegian water and sewerage systems as “huge”.
Odin Jæger, E24
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Dramatic increase
According to the new figures, the investment need in municipal Norway over the next 20 years will be at least NOK 323 billion. It shows a new report that Norconsult and Sintef have produced on behalf of the industrial organization Norsk Vann, which is owned by the municipalities.
– If we are to manage it, the normal rate for a Norwegian home will be around 33,000 crowns. In some places it can be as high as 45,000, says Thomas Breen in Norsk Vann.
In comparison, this fee today is on average NOK 10,000 per household.
– So we’ve created a challenge where low-income families will obviously notice difficult priorities as a consequence, says Breen.
In Norway, water and sewerage services are financed through so-called “self-service”. This means that the inhabitants themselves pay what it costs to operate the facilities, through municipal fees.
CONCERNED: Managing Director Thomes Trømborg at NRA / NRV (left), Director Thomas Breen at Norwegian Water, Communications Consultant Frode Skår and Director of Development at NRA / NRV Gunnar Bjørnson at the Strømmen Center Treatment Plant .
Odin Jæger, E24
You think the rates have been too low
Lørenskog is one of the municipalities with NRA / NRV water and sewerage services. Next year, the municipality announces a rate jump of 49 percent in water and 10 percent in sewerage, the municipality informs E24.
Therefore, the normal annual fee for water and sewage will be NOK 9,677 per household, compared to the current rate of NOK 7,671.
And higher it can be:
According to Helland, 20 percent of the pipeline network to the municipality of Lørenskog is in “acute need of rehabilitation”.
The municipality’s forecasts say that the rate in three years will be 12,000 to 13,000 crowns.
– That the number will be higher in the future, it will be. Residents should prepare for higher rates in the future. The advantage is safer water and sewage networks, which are also better for the environment, says City Manager Knut Edvard Helland.
RATE INCREASE: Municipal technical director Knut Edvard Helland in Lørenskog admits that the municipality has rehabilitated very little on the water and sewage side.
Municipality of Lørenskog
He believes that overall rates have been too low and that the municipality has rehabilitated too little.
– They have wanted to avoid higher costs for the inhabitants. The water and sewage are underground and people do not realize the delivery until they stop.
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Worried
Norsk Vann believes that municipalities face a “huge challenge” in the coming years, and that this area should receive more political attention at the national level.
– Water and sewerage are socially critical. The larger society has failed. We have a generation behind us that has paid very little, so the next generation now has to pay for the delay, says Thomas Breen.
He and Thomes Trømborg at NRA / NRV both fear the consequences for the industry in the future.
– They were worried. It is not the case that we do not sleep at night, but if we do not focus more on this by the government authorities, we will start to sleep poorly at night, says Trømborg.
