Work areas of the water companies

Management of the danish water infrastructure

Danish water companies manage the majority of the water system’s daily operations. This includes groundwater recovery, distribution of clean drinking water to the public, conveyance and sanitation of waste water to prevent runoff into lakes, streams, the ocean, as well as the treatment of rainwater.

Streams of Water and Wastewater 

Climate adaptation

In the last few years water companies have been investing heavily into climate adaptation. These upgrades include waste water reservoirs to catch and contain stormwater to prevent spillage until treatment plants regain capacity. Rain water reservoirs are another example of solutions to cope with extraordinary amounts  of rain and to prevent sediments from seeping into rivers and lakes.

Rainwater can thus be harvested locally and reintroduced into the ground by direct application.

The water industry by numbers, for companies governed by the Danish Water Sector Act looks like this: (volume of water >200.000 m3 - data from 2014).

Drinking water

1. Number of companies* 220
2. Abstracted water volume (m3) 283,992,050
3. Number (quantity) 1,124,698
4. Clean water piping (km) 44,083
5. Meters (units) 1,226,843

Wastewater

1. Number of treatment plants 674
2. Incoming water volume (m3) * 703,993,508
3. Rate of organic load (Person equivalent, PE) 8,427,104
4. Sludge (tonnes) 128,363
5. Number of companies 111
6. Number of household pumps (units) 17,920
7. Pumping stations (units) 16,393
8. Rain water reservoirs (units) 4,985
9. Waste water reservoirs (units) 1,825