By Agnes and Thomas
Around 2000 properties on Nesodden are not connected to the public (municipal) system for water and drainage. Most of these get their water from a well and has a private drainage solution, such as a septic tank.
In 2008, the municipality checked 988 private wastewater treatment plants, and found out that 80% of these needed ugrading to comply to the Pollution Regulation requirements. Samples were also taken from many wells, where only 23% had a water quality that satisfied the drinking water regulation.
The local government want everybody to be connected to the public system for water and drainage. Sadly, that is not feasible now. Many people want to connect to the public system, because the public water often is better, and the draining system is safer, cleaner and more hygienic. But it is expensive and time consuming and getting everyone on the public water systems is not a high priority by the municipality.
Thomas uncle who has privat water lives in an area where municipal water is not available. And Because they dont have municipal water, they receive water from the well. The water goes through a treatment plant, so the water is as clean as the municipal water.
Where Agnes lives it was different. The water got tested last year and contained many minerals, such as iron, manganese, magnesium, calcium and natron. These minerals aren’t that bad themselves, but the water also contained intestinal bacteria, such as e. coli and coliform, since the well has been to open.
When we found out that the water wasn’t drinkable, we wanted to fix that. We protected the well better, so the water would stay fresh. Last week, we tested the water again. I filled bottles with our tap water and sent them to a laboratory. This is how the testing kit looked:
We got the test results back this week, and it turns out our water is clean for intestinal bacteria! The water still contains heavy metals, so we won`t drink so much of it, but still use it for cooking, washing and brushing our teeth.
