How can our spare time activities contaminate our own drinking water?

By Ludvig Bruusgaard Torsvik and Trygve Lien Kjølseth.

People on Nesodden enjoy outdoor activities and experiencing the beautiful Norwegian nature. How does this affect the water quality and biodiversity of lakes, streams and fjords?

We can start with the different artificial turfs in Nesodden. The soccer fields we make here in Norway is an artificial turf filled with small pieces of rubber. These rubber pieces are put there to give better cushioning but can also hurt the environment and the biodiversity where we live and in our oceans.

In an interview with Ellen Lien who worked with environmental protection here in Nesodden we asked her these questions:

Where does the rubber pieces from the artificial soccer fields end up?

  • They can end up in the forests close to the soccer fields and can get washed into our oceans by the rains and our rivers. On a more trivial note, they can be quite annoying too, because the get into socks and shoes and get brought home.

How can we try to stop the spreading of the rubber pieces?

  • One thing you can do to prevent the spreading is making a physical barrier, like a wall or a moat to collect them. Another thing you can do is being more careful when we plough snow away from the field as the snow is often filled with the rubber pieces.

Ellen Lien answered that physical barriers could be set up, a proposal that the Ministry of Climate and Environment also has come with. According to the Ministry of Climate and Environment, barriers could reduce emissions of artificial grass knots by up to 98%.

What can be consequence of the small rubber piece spreading?

  • Streams and rivers can transport the rubber pieces to lakes and our oceans.
    There it will pollute the water and possibly be eaten by birds and fish for which, in the worst case, can be fatal.

In the winter there’s usually is a thick layer of snow in Nesodden. This means there’s also good skiing opportunities.

We asked Ellen a few questions about the fluoride in the ski track which there is plenty of roundabout in Nesodden. Fluoride is a substance which they out in all sorts of products, mainly toothpaste but also in thing like ski waxes. When you are out skiing the wax will eventually fall off bit by bit which leaves trace amounts of fluoride in the ski tracks.

Many companies add fluoride to their ski waxes, does this mean that there is more fluoride in the ground than around ski tracks than other places?

  • I don’t know, and I don’t think they have measured, but other places measures show that earthworms that live around ski tracks have very high amounts of fluoride.

What can the consequences of too high fluorite value be?

  • Fluorite is poisonous, it builds up in the food chain and makes animals potentially fatal ill. Fluorite also makes heavy metal build up in the body easier.

The answer was found on Dagbladet, a Norwegian newspaper.

There are many other ways our water can be contaminated. One thing that can

be potentially dangerous is faecal matter in our drinking water. It is very rare that faecally contaminated water gets through unpurified but faecal matter can seep through the water transportation pipes if they get damaged.

Many people walk their dog or ride horses around our nearest lake and water supply, the Blekslitjern. Their animal’s faeces may get into our water, what can the consequences of this be?

Bacteria from the faeces may get into our water and can make us seriously ill.

What can you do to prevent this?

Inform people by setting up signs in the catchment area to Blekslitjern. if they have problems with people taking baths in Blekslitjern, they can do as they did in Maridalsvannet in Oslo and put up fences.

Faecal contamination is not very dangerous unless it’s very severe or it is seeping into waterpipes after the water has been purified. In question 2 Ellen says that in some drinking water lakes, people are taking baths, this is not a problem at Blekslitjern.

 

 

https://www.regjeringen.no/no/aktuelt/tiltak-mot-spredning-av-mikroplast-fra-kunstgressbaner/id2662431/

https://www.dagbladet.no/sport/skremt-av-fluorfunn-i-granasen/71780184

https://www.dagbladet.no/sport/loypene-er-forgiftet/71918053

https://www.fhi.no/nettpub/stoffer-i-drikkevann/om-stoffer-i-drikkevann/om-stoffer-i-drikkevann/

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=http%3A%2F%2Fnesoddenfotball.no%2F2016%2F01%2F26%2Fobs-service-pa-berger-kgb%2F&psig=AOvVaw0b4dEJLJvuRN6SE-cqkGHk&ust=1585639255789000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCKjl2ujUwegCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tv2.no%2Fa%2F11013443%2F&psig=AOvVaw0hBSYatf9clz6mozMKpPoi&ust=1585639218499000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCIDwn8nUwegCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAE

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amta.no%2Fnyheter%2Fdrikker-dyrt-vann-fra-barum%2Fs%2F1-31-1669144&psig=AOvVaw14WArmsO0oIAMp6HnEK00V&ust=1585639400481000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCIDLxKLVwegCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD

Water pollution from the road

Water pollution from the road

By: Haldis and Flora

Norway is known for having good water. And Nesodden is a place sur

rounded by water on both sides. Our task was to find facts about how the road construction, salting, gritting and run off form the polluted masses affects the water community.

 

Nesodden have 4 municipal water works. They are in the places called: Bleksli (1) , Kirkeåsen (2) , Jaer school (3) and Fagerstrand (4).

Facts about how the water quality on Nesodden is affected by the roadwork

When its roadworks, poisoned chemicals can flow down into lakes and rivers. The same can happen with groundwater and with chemicals from explosives.

The biggest problem is micro-plastic. Microplastic can come from for example wear from car wheels. This can cause that micro- plastic will fall into our ocean. Since July 2018, every water supply system in Nesodden approved by the health ministry in Norway.  The water can be dangerous. But our country has the sources to clean the water luckily.

And according to Nesodden’s website it says that the water we get are clean and healthy. And that they will warn us, if something is wrong. That will affect the water quality.

Conclusion

So as a conclusion, the water her on Nesodden is not affected by the chemicals from the road. Because we have a cleaning system that makes the water clean

Sources: https://www.nesodden.kommune.no/priser-og-avgifter/kommunale-avgifter-for-vann-avlop-slam-renovasjon-og-feiing/engangsgebyr-for-tilknytning-til-kommunalt-vann-og-avlop.13117.aspxhttps://www.vegvesen.no/fag/fokusomrader/miljo+og+omgivelser/forurensning/saltskaderhttps://www.nesodden.kommune.no/vei-vann/vann-og-avlop/kommunal-vannforsyning/https://www.vegvesen.no/fag/fokusomrader/miljo+og+omgivelser/forurensning/vann

the waterglass foto (Foto: Microstock)

 

the map foto-http://www.nesoddendans.com/kart%20over%20nesodden/nesodden.gif

How does our Water and Drainage system work on our peninsula, Nesodden?

This article is written by Casper, Kristine, Tonje, Emma and Sofia GH.

We are going to tell you a bit about how our council mangage our water waste, drains and sewage on Nesodden. How is it handled, and are there any problems and challenges connected with it.

What is wastewater and sewage?
Wastewater is sewage, rainwater and more that is coming from households, and gets transported underground in pipes. Wastewater is water that is degraded in quality (contaminated) due to the influence of man-made processes.
         

Sewage and drains on Nesodden

On Nesodden, there are three different sewage treatment plants, but one of them doesn´t meet the requirements. About 2000 properties aren´t connected to public water and drains, but some people have private sewer systems. Many of them are old, and may pollute the groundwater, private drinking water wells and streams and lakes.

Almost all drains on Nesodden are getting transported in pipes underground. Some houses aren´t connected to the sewage system because houses are scattered. And it is too expensive to connect to the system. Therefore, not all sewage is transported to the sewage treatment plants.

Have sewage and drains created problems on Nesodden?
Sewage and drains do not cause problems by themselves. What causes problems is that people throw products in the toilet that do not belong in the drain. For example, they throw wet wipes, cotton buds, food waste, grease and much more. Wet wipes do not dissolve, they stick to the pumps, so they clog and are blocked. Cotton buds do not dissolve and block pipes and pumps. Food waste becomes food for rats living in the sewage pipes. Many rats lead to blocked drainage pipes. Grease is thin liquid in warm water, but it solidifies when it meets cold water. People throw a lot of weird stuff in the toilet, there are problems with pumps and drains almost every day. This is expensive for Nesodden.

Maintenance and progress work of drain pipes
The existing drain system has stayed unchanged for many years. However, new changes and materials have made it better now. A while ago we had wooden pipes. They made some problems because they rotted. Now we have plastic pipes which are stronger.

In the future, all wastewater on Nesodden will be pumped over to VEAS (a sewage treatment plant in across the fjord in Asker, se map). Now, people are laying pipes across the water from the west side of our peninsula, Alværn to Asker.

Summary
The sewage at Nesodden being transported through plastic pipes to the sewage treatment plants across the fjord from where we live. At Nesodden we have three, but many houses aren’t connected to them. The problems with sewage and drains are when people throw garbage in the toilet instead of the trash can.

Our sources:
https://www.nesodden.kommune.no/vei-vann/vann-og-avlop/kommunale-avlopstjenester/ (23.3.2020)

https://www.nesodden.kommune.no/vei-vann/vann-og-avlop/private-vann-og-avlopslosninger/private-avlopslosninger/ (23.3.2020)

https://www.nesodden.kommune.no/vei-vann/vann-og-avlop/ (23.3.2020)

https://www.nesodden.kommune.no/vei-vann/vann-og-avlop/tilkobling-offentlig-vann-og-avlopsnett/ (23.3.2020)

Jon Petter Johnsen (Project Manager at Nesodden)

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