In all three facilities, unauthorized individuals are suspected to have gained access. In Bollebygd, the warning not to drink water directly from the tap has been in effect for two weeks.
Generally, I would like to say that the drinking water supply is safe. But, unfortunately, these break-ins show that there is still work to be done to further increase security, says statsinspektör Christer Johansson at the National Food Agency.
In Bollebygd, a decision had previously been made to allocate extra funds to strengthen security at various drinking water facilities.
In connection with the discovery of an unlocked water reservoir earlier in December, emergency measures were taken and the work was accelerated.
The funds had been received before the incident, so we would have done this anyway. It was an old locking system, and keys can be misplaced, says Ulf Krüger, head of the technical and service administration in Bollebygd municipality.
Different Requirements
The National Food Agency has the task of leading and coordinating the work to secure the water supply in Sweden.
This is done, for example, through the drinking water regulations from 1989, but also via the national security regulations that came into effect in 2008 and are also known as the Lock and Bolt regulations.
The drinking water producer shall prevent, detect, and counteract sabotage and other vandalism, says Christer Johansson.
Many are not Covered
The regulations are directed towards facilities that supply at least 2,000 connected users.
However, in Sweden, there are approximately 1,100 municipal drinking water facilities that do not meet the 2,000 connected users threshold and are therefore not covered by the additional requirements.
The reservoir in Bollebygd is an example.
Then the general requirements specified in the drinking water regulations apply: preventive work and quality requirements. In the preventive work, it includes, to some extent, ensuring that no unauthorized person can affect the water, says Christer Johansson at the National Food Agency.
