Water treatment

The primary consideration in our activity is respect to the environment around us in everything we do, in water abstraction as well as in discharging the effluent back to the nature. We treat water in a way that would be harmless to the people and the environment and would not damage the delicate balance of aquatic ecosystems. We care about the Baltic Sea and work hard to ensure the water quality in the Baltic Sea and a healthy living environment for the people who live in this region.

Where comes the drinking water?

Drinking water is always abstracted from nature. In Tallinn, water mainly comes from Lake Ülemiste and to a lesser extent also from the groundwater bore wells. So that Lake Ülemiste, which is pretty small, would not run out from water, a larger water catchment system has been created, formed by the hydropoints and water reservoirs on the rivers, and a system of canals between them that can be used to take additional water to Lake Ülemiste, when necessary. Our water catchment system mainly covers Harju sub-basin and the catchments of Soodla, Jägala and Pirita River, and its total surface area is approximately 1 800 square kilometres.

We make our best efforts to use the natural water resources sustainably and to maintain the natural balance of the environment. In addition to water that we take from the lake and collect via water catchment system, we also have a groundwater at our disposal. However, the natural groundwater resources renew very slowly, which is why we only use the bore wells in the emergencies when for some reason, water abstraction from Lake Ülemiste would not be possible.

Almost 90% of our customers in Tallinn (in Kesklinna, Lasnamäe, Mustamäe, Põhja-Tallinna, Kristiine and Haabersti city districts), but also in the City of Maardu, in Muuga, in Pirita and partially in Harku, drink surface water. Nearly 10% of the residents of Tallinn drink local groundwater. These areas include Nõmme, Laagri, Merivälja, Pirita, Tiskre, the City of Saue and Tiskre village in Harku Rural Municipality.