Drinking water in Finland is of good quality and it is safe to drink tap water. However,
climate change, demographics, geopolitics, ageing infrastructure and the changed security environment are challenging Finland’s ability to produce safe drinking water. How can we make sure that drinking water will be safe and available for everybody in the future?
As part of Safe Water for All (WaterFall), 26 experts from research institutes, universities, national agencies, and ministries came together to explore four potential futures for Finnish water supply.
What type of risks are the most critical ones in 2050? Who is going to be affected by these risks? How can the combination of ongoing trends and emerging threats create new risks? These questions were discussed at the WaterFall scenario workshop that took place on October 28, in Helsinki.
Risks are diverse
It is not only physical damage in the infrastructure that puts our drinking water at risk. The lack of skilled people handling our water supply, misinformation and challenges in governance, insufficient funding, and vulnerabilities of the technical (digital & physical) infrastructure are the ingredients that create risks for safe drinking water supply.
“Across all futures, water security depends on people, resources, and systems — when one fails, the others soon follow”, summarizes senior researcher Johannes Klein from Demos Helsinki, one of the leaders of the workshop.
These findings will inform and guide the further work in the WaterFall project.
Safe Water for All (WaterFall) Project is a six-year research project aimed at improving water safety and the reliability of water services from raw water sources all the way to consumers. The project develops new operating models and solutions to strengthen the resilience of Finnish water services and their preparedness for both local and global changes. The project is funded by the Strategic Research Council, which operates in connection with the Academy of Finland.
More information
Johannes Klein (scenarios and visions)
Senior Researcher
Demos Helsinki
firsname.lastname@demoshelsinki.fi
Ilkka Miettinen (consortium leader)
Principal Researcher
Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare
tel. +358 29 524 6371
firstname.surname@thl.fi