To reduce health risks, the EU has lowered the limit values for several substances that can be found in drinking water. In Sweden, stricter values now also apply, for example, for arsenic and lead.
Anyone who has non-municipal drinking water with more than 50 users or who produces more than 10,000 liters of water per day must also comply with the new limit values.
This could, for example, involve preschools and restaurants.
This is difficult for individual communities that are not experts in the area, says Per Dalhielm, CEO of Svenskt Vatten, to TT.
Smaller households with their own well are not covered by the same rules, but it is recommended that they follow the Swedish National Food Administration's guidelines.
At the same time, a number of companies selling drinking water purification have appeared on the market.
Sample without analysis
One of them has been reported 45 times to the Swedish Consumer Complaints Board, Arn.
Rose-Marie Andersson, 67, who lives in a house with her own well, tells TT that she received a test kit sent home by the company, which offered to analyze drinking water samples for free.
Two days after she sent the sample, one of the company's salespeople called and said that her drinking water needed to be purified.
I became a little suspicious. An analysis cannot take so short a time, says Rose-Marie Andersson.
When the seller wanted to take a new sample, she hoped it would now be sent to a laboratory.
But he used a sample he had in his bag, said that the drinking water needed to be purified and tried to sell the equipment directly for around 40,000 kronor, she says.
When Rose-Marie said she couldn't afford it, the seller wanted her to take out a loan through the company.
She firmly refused.
After two days I still received an order confirmation, then invoices for things I never received or ordered.
“Warning bells”
According to Marie Wiezell, a lawyer at the Swedish Consumers Association, the methods described should ring alarm bells: moments when the customer is taken by surprise, assertive telephone calls and door-to-door sales.
Then it's best to stop, check with the company and make a decision in peace and quiet. If you want to test your water, you can check what the municipality uses for analysis and purification.
In an email response to TT, the company writes:
“In some cases, simpler indicative tests are used as a first step to identify deviations or provide guidance on which parameters may need to be analyzed further.”
A complete analysis of a drinking water sample should take ten days from the start of the analysis, according to the accreditation authority Swedac.
Facts: Stricter limit values for drinking water
New limit values apply to several substances according to the Swedish National Food Administration's drinking water regulations, which came into full force this year.
The limit values apply in addition to those that produce municipal drinking water.
The legal requirement covers individual drinking water facilities as soon as they:
– supplies at least 50 people or produces more than 10,000 liters of water per day.
–or if it supplies drinking water to public or commercial activities, such as retirement homes, cafes or preschools.
For supervision of individual drinking water facilities, the municipality's environmental and health office.
Own wells for private use are not covered by the same mandatory legislation.
However, the Swedish National Food Agency recommends that households that have their own well follow the same limit values and procedures.
To obtain a complete drinking water analysis, it must be done by an accredited laboratory.
Sources: EU Drinking Water Directive, Swedish National Food Agency, SGU, Swedish Water Test, Swedac and the Swedish National Board of Complaints (Arn).
