Response to interpellation 2022/23:168 on maintenance and security around our drinking water reservoir
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerns the protection of Sweden's drinking water resources and the security surrounding water protection areas. L argues that access to clean water is a prerequisite for health and the natural environment. The Government has strengthened the work by allocating 80 million kronor annually to the county administrative boards for drinking water supply and water protection 1. L emphasizes that municipalities and county administrative boards are responsible for the protection and that EU cooperation contributes to better water quality 1 2. SD considers drinking water to be an important food source and that security must be prioritized, especially considering war risks 3. SD also wants to see opportunities to introduce stricter national rules regarding PFAS substances without waiting for EU decisions 4. SD also highlights illegal settlements in water protection areas as a problem. L responds that authorities have not been able to identify cases where illegal settlements have affected the quality of drinking water 5.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Statsrådet Romina Pourmokhtari (L)
Madam Speaker! Martin Westmont has asked me how I intend to work to protect the country's water protection areas and whether it is relevant for me and the government to work, through regulatory letters and other means, to create more water protection areas.
Access to clean water is a prerequisite for a well-functioning society, for people's health and for the natural environment. We need clean drinking water both now and in the future.
A number of different actors contribute to ensuring that Sweden's population has access to safe drinking water. The municipalities ensure long-term protection for the current and future drinking water supply. The County Administrative Boards ensure that the municipalities take their responsibility and that the Water Services Act is followed. The Swedish Food Agency is the coordinating authority for drinking water issues, while the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management is responsible for providing guidance to municipalities and County Administrative Boards regarding water protection areas.
A water protection area is a formal area protection established by the County Administrative Board or the municipality with the support of the Environmental Code. Water protection areas are important for protecting drinking water resources that are of significance for the water supply, both to manage identified risks and to be able to prevent problems from arising.
The work to establish water protection areas has therefore been strengthened in recent years. The County Administrative Boards have been allocated 80 million kronor per year for 2022 and 2023 for work with drinking water supply and water protection, and the same amount is also estimated to be allocated for 2024.
The reinforcements have already yielded results in the form of more decisions and a larger proportion of protected water bodies. It has also resulted in that the county administrative boards' supervision of water protection areas has been able to increase.
Madam Speaker! It is regulated in Chapter 6, Section 5 of the Water Management Ordinance that the action programs shall, among other things, contain measures for the establishment of water protection areas or for protecting drinking water in other ways. In the water authorities' action programs, this is fulfilled through measures to, among others, county administrative boards and municipalities regarding drinking water protection and protection of water bodies, and through the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management's guidance for the establishment and management of water protection areas.
To contribute to achieving the goals in water management, it is crucial that the relevant authorities and municipalities implement the measures decided in the action programs. Municipalities and county administrative boards need to ensure that water protection areas are established, that existing water areas are revised, and that systematic and regular supervision is conducted.
Within the EU cooperation, a revision of several EU directives is currently underway which are expected to ensure and improve water quality, for example, proposals for directives amending the Water Framework Directive, the Groundwater Directive and the Priority Substances Directive, as well as the proposal for a revised Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive. Taken together, this work is assessed to be able to contribute to better protection of our water resources.
Madam Speaker! I also want to mention that the implementation of the EU's revised drinking water directive into Swedish law shall take place during 2023. Through the directive, a risk-based method for drinking water safety is introduced, which covers the entire chain from the catchment area to the tap. The purpose is, among other things, to better prevent risks and ensure that measures are primarily taken at the source of discharge.
I have confidence that our authorities and municipalities have the conditions to ensure long-term protection for both current and future drinking water supply.
Martin Westmont (SD)
Madam Speaker! I thank the Minister for the answer to my interpellation. I believe the answer shows that the government takes the issue very seriously.
I believe that most residents in Sweden see access to drinking water as a given. However, we have seen some problems in certain municipalities where the water supply has been interrupted, which can have major consequences for many people in their daily lives.
Drinking water is our most important food source, and the environmental quality objectives set by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency specifically highlight an increased protection of water. Therefore, it is important that we ensure safety when it comes to our drinking water and our water protection areas.
We also have a war in our immediate vicinity, and in the event of an attack on Sweden, our drinking water reserve would be a potential target.
The Social Democrats are not exactly known for working preventatively. We see this, not least when it comes to the electricity crisis and our dismantled defense.
But now we have four parties that are ready to take responsibility, so I think the conditions exist to also expand the security around our water protection areas.
Madam Speaker! I have a follow-up question for the Minister: What is the Minister's view on Sweden's strategy when it comes to PFAS substances in our nature?
Statsrådet Romina Pourmokhtari (L)
Madam Speaker! Thank you, Member, for the question! Swedish citizens rightly see it as a given to have good access to drinking water. According to the order we have in our country, this is handled by municipalities and county administrative boards.
One of the reasons why the state is developing its contribution to ensuring that the drinking water system, and particularly the reserves, are managed in a wise manner is, as the member mentions, that situations have arisen that have had an impact. It has shown that strengthened action from the state's side was needed to contribute to the work functioning in a better way.
That is why I particularly want to highlight the importance of the county administrative boards being allocated 80 million kronor per year to work with just drinking water supply and water protection. We hope these funds can contribute to further reinforcements. The reinforcements have already yielded results in the form of more decisions and a larger proportion of protected water sources, and it has also resulted in the county administrative boards' supervision being able to increase. This is important given the situation we face.
It is important that we ensure that all the rights that people should have in our country are met by our society as a whole. One such thing is that there should be clean water in the tap.
When it comes to the PFAS issues, I unfortunately have to be so tedious as to lean on Sweden's presidency in the EU Council. The Council is currently dealing with issues concerning PFAS, and therefore I cannot go into further explanations regarding the work on that front.
To return to the issue of water protection, I would like to mention once again that situations have arisen that have provided grounds for this government to choose to continue an important work of providing special funds to manage this.
Within the EU cooperation, a revision of several different directives and proposals is currently underway. What I can mention regarding this is that the assessment of our and the Government Offices' wise knowledge base is that this will contribute to Sweden being able to protect our water resources in a better way.
There are always improvements to be made, and possibly the proposals that come through the EU cooperation will be able to further contribute to this. But the focus here is that we are now ensuring that the county administrative boards and the municipalities, which bear responsibility for the drinking water supply and water protection, can carry out that work in the best possible way.
Martin Westmont (SD)
Madam Speaker! Thank you, Minister, for the answer!
Many companies need drinking water for their production. Our industry needs water generally speaking in order to be able to operate, and that is why these questions are so important.
The reason I asked the question about PFAS chemicals is, just as the Minister mentions, that the issue will be addressed within the EU. The proposal is to introduce a ban on certain chemicals, including arsenic. My point is that what is proposed within the EU is intended to take effect first in 2026, but it is up to each member state to introduce its own rules. The Minister has stated that she does not have full insight into the matter; I would then like to make the point that you are welcome to look into whether we in Sweden have the possibility to introduce our own rules to protect our environment and our water protection areas and the possibility to introduce stricter rules regarding PFAS substances in nature. In this way, we do not need to wait until 2026 when the potential new ban from the EU enters into force.
Statsrådet Romina Pourmokhtari (L)
Madam Speaker! Regarding the work that is ongoing within the European Union, I want to say again that our assessment from the government's side, and which was stated in the interpellation response, is that we have our work at the national level, but that the work and content that comes from the EU cooperation will be able to contribute to better protection. We will work actively with all possible parts of this issue and with how we best protect our supervision of our water protection areas but also our water reserve as a whole.
Since 2021, there has also been an intensive effort to rebuild civil defense in Sweden. We have a specific minister for this work, and the starting point lies in the total defense bill that has been adopted. It is stated there very clearly that the drinking water supply is one of a number of identified particularly important societal functions that must function during high alert and, ultimately, in a war situation. Therefore, the work currently underway with civil defense is also an opportunity to further prioritize the issues concerning drinking water.
Another minister, Minister for Rural Affairs Kullgren, is responsible for the Swedish Food Agency and has thereby been able to issue further assignments on how we can ensure a robust drinking water supply and particularly take into account situations that may arise during war and high alert.
Let me say again that these are important issues. A completely decisive prerequisite for our society to function is that we have clean drinking water, drinking water that contributes well to people's health and to our natural environment. The Government intends to actively follow this issue in addition to us providing funds to those parts of our society that ultimately in practice handle this, namely the municipalities and the county administrative boards.
Martin Westmont (SD)
Madam Speaker! We can never compromise on the security of Sweden's inhabitants. We must always ensure security, not least when it comes to our drinking water.
I am convinced that the Minister, just as I myself and many of those listening to this debate, has seen the development in Sweden where we have illegal settlements being erected, among other places, in water protection areas. It is clear that this is a problem that we must address.
We also know that these illegal settlements are interconnected with begging. Begging is a multifaceted problem that we must address. We cannot avoid that.
My question to the Minister is: Will the Minister and all Members of Parliament for the Liberals support a constitutional proposal that entails a national ban on begging?
Statsrådet Romina Pourmokhtari (L)
Madam Speaker! Let us discuss the interpellation that has been submitted, namely how we handle water issues in Sweden and how we ensure that our water is clean and that there is a secure supply of drinking water in Sweden that can live up to the level of health that we want Swedish citizens to be able to feel secure with. We also have our fantastic environment that we must take into account, given the drinking water quality we have.
We have investigated the issue of illegal settlements by contacting our authorities - the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management and the County Administrative Board in Stockholm County - and the municipality in Haninge. None of them are aware of any case where illegal settlements have specifically affected the drinking water quality. I find this to be very positive.
We have also specifically checked with Haninge municipality. There, the primary risks to the drinking water are linked to traffic and the road network. That is the very largest impact that occurs. There are gas stations located nearby, and the transport of dangerous goods takes place. Accidents can occur in the vicinity of our drinking water reserves. The parking of vehicles and road salting are also mentioned. Those are the greatest risks they assess as existing. They point out that they are not aware of any cases where this would have affected the drinking water quality, which I think is very positive.
Should it be discovered that this is a problem, those affected by it, the municipalities and the County Administrative Board, will of course have to handle it. But I can gladly say that there is no such problem right now. We look forward to the government continuing to take responsibility for ensuring that we in Sweden have a good supply of drinking water.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.