Last Friday, Stockholm Water and Waste went out with a call to 1.5 million Stockholm residents to save water. Stockholm City is urging residents to, among other things, avoid watering, not fill the pool, wash and do dishes sparingly and take short showers.
The reason is the unusually warm temperature in Mälaren, which affects the waterworks negatively. The purification filters are disturbed and make the waterworks now have limited capacity to produce tap water.
Risk that it runs out in the tap
It's not about water shortage, but about limited capacity. In addition, the period around the school start is a "high consumption period", says Johanna Ansker.
How far are we from it running out in the taps?
It's hard to quantify with an exact figure. We are further from it now than on Friday since the Stockholmers have heeded us. But it could still happen, especially if you live at a high altitude, says Johanna Ansker.
According to a measurement on Saturday, the day after the warning, water consumption is said to have decreased by 15 percent compared to the expected figure.
Takes time to cool down
The call to save tap water still applies throughout Stockholm, Huddinge and neighboring municipalities that get their water from Stockholm's waterworks in Mälaren: Strängnäs, Nynäshamn, Lidingö, Nacka, Tyresö, Haninge, Botkyrka, Värmdö, Ekerö and Salem.
The fact that the weather has been cooler over the weekend has not affected the situation for the waterworks.
We take water from deep down in Mälaren and just like it takes time for the water to warm up in the summer, it also takes a little while to cool down, says Johanna Ansker.
