Facts: Emergency water tanks
The National Food Administration has containers with emergency water tanks in Helsingborg, Borås, Gotland, Stockholm, Sundsvall, Umeå and Luleå. More locations are expected to be added.
Most of the containers contain 40 folding emergency water tanks, plus taps and other things needed for them to be used. Each tank holds one cubic meter of water.
Some containers are ready for use in the winter. They also contain power plants and heating mats, but slightly fewer water tanks.
To get help with emergency water tanks, a municipality must sound the alarm to the national Water Disaster Group. The number of alarms per year varies greatly, but it is usually around 20.
The tanks are unfolded and provided with an inner bag that is filled with water near the place where they are to be exhibited.
Source: National Food Administration, Water Disaster Group
A reminder of what water shortages can mean came in Nyköping and Oxelösund almost a month ago. More than 30,000 households and other businesses were without water in the taps when a main water pipe broke. The municipalities had to exhibit emergency water tanks for almost a week.
Other times it is dry weather that causes a shortage of drinking water. The problem has been exacerbated by the changing climate.
– The drought has become more noticeable, says Christina Nordensten, emergency preparedness manager at the National Food Administration.
In seven places
At present, the National Food Administration has 27 containers with folding emergency water tanks, located at seven locations in Sweden. Each container contains 35 or 40 tanks, and each tank can be filled with one cubic meter of water.
– We will buy more containers with complete equipment. They are crucial in major crises, says Christina Nordensten, who is also head of the national Water Disaster Group.
She emphasizes that the containers should only be used in emergencies.
Minor problems with temporary water shortages must be solved by the municipalities themselves, perhaps with the help of a neighboring municipality. Each municipality also needs to have an emergency water plan on how to handle unexpected events.
– If you have no plan, it will not work very well, says Christina Nordensten.
Many municipalities already have an emergency water plan.
– But they can probably look very different, says Nordensten.
Drive by truck
The National Food Administration will also buy larger water tanks, which can be transported by truck.
– During the drought in 2016 and 2017 on the eastern side of Sweden, it was important to be able to transport water to the affected areas, says Christina Nordensten.
These tanks are in the order of ten cubic meters, ie 10,000 liters.