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PURE WATER T he world's looming water crisis has been overshadowed by concerns over shortages of fuel and food though it could be more fundamental in the long run. Finland is blessed with plenty of water reserves, but has been forced by its position on the Baltic Sea and its climate to come up with efficient methods of water management. This has spawned technologies that could benefit other countries, offering solutions to the global problems of protecting pure water supplies and water purification. Finland has some of the safest tap water in the world. A 2007 study carried out for the Finnish newspaper Aamulehti indicated that Tampere city water was much purer than any bottled water tested. In recent years, a few municipalities have suffered from contaminated wafor a THIRSTY POPU TION Finland has vast reserves of clean water in its 188,000 lakes. But sadly, it is also located on one of the world's most polluted seas, the Baltic. The country is a pioneer in water management and has much know-how to offer. BY WIF STENGER PHOTOGRAPHS BY KUVAARIO/MARKKU KÖNKKÖLÄ ISTOCKPHOTO AND LEHTIKUVA ter supplies, but these were rare, isolated cases. "In Finland, chemical mechanical water treatment processes are widely used in the production of drinking water," explains Aija Jantunen, General Manager, Kemira Water, Finland & Baltics. "Due to the high concentration of humus substance in our lakes, we are good at purifying humus." Unique purification process One local utility that has achieved excellent results with more challenging source water is Vaasa Water, the municipal utility of a town of 60,000 on Finland's west coast. "We have quite a unique drinking water purification process here in Vaasa," says Managing Director Pertti Reinikainen. "We use dirty river water and process it almost to the level of high-quality groundwater. The process as a whole is something that could be used anywhere with a shortage of pure water." Vaasa Water is also now collaborating on systems to derive biogas from wastewater. The utility has teamed up with another locally-based company, KWH Pipe, to create an innovative district heating system based on natural warmth from seabed sediment. KWH is one of several world-class pipe manufacturers based in Finland. "There has been a lot of R&D here on the interaction between various pipe materials and water," says Jantunen. "Pipe material has an impact on water quality and vice versa. Uponor produces mainly plastic pipes, Outokumpu's material is copper and Rautaruukki's stainless steel." She points to other areas where companies are developing exportable water technology: "There is Finnish expertise 16 FOCUS
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