Levels in water reservoirs in Småland's Gnosjö have reached a "critical bottom level", warned the municipality this week – and introduced a watering ban at the same time.
"The situation is very serious, it is historically low levels", the municipality writes on its website.
Gotland has also recently had a five-month-long watering ban, which ended on Monday.
Groundwater levels are unusually low in the large reservoirs – which are important for municipal water supply – in large parts of southern and eastern Götaland and eastern Svealand. In the more sensitive small reservoirs, groundwater levels are low in even larger parts of the country, according to Sweden's Geological Survey.
We had a precipitation deficit from January to now, it did not fall as much precipitation as it usually does, says Julia Zabori at SMHI.
But the situation is improving slowly. Last week, 13 counties were threatened by the risk of water shortage, now the figure is 11.
Two counties are no longer affected by the risk of water shortage: Västmanland County and Halland County.
Additionally, the cooler and often rainier weather of autumn helps.
During the summer, a lot of water disappears into the atmosphere through evaporation. During autumn and winter, evaporation is not as large, so it usually gets better, says Julia Zabori.
We expect that it will eventually become more and more counties where we can unpublish the risk of water shortage that exists.
Fact: Counties with risk of water shortage, week 38
TT
Small reservoirs:
Kalmar County
Skåne County
Blekinge County
Kronoberg County
Jönköping County
Västra Götaland County
Stockholm County
Södermanland County
Östergötland County
Uppsala County
Large reservoirs
Gotland County
Kalmar County
Skåne County
Blekinge County
Kronoberg County
Jönköping County
Source: Sweden's Geological Survey, SGU
