What Do We Drink in Estonia?

While the whole world is discussing whether access to water should be considered an human right or not, EPL published an interesting survey about the quality of Estonian water, revealing some interesting surprises.

Which might be the natural outcome of privatization.

If Tallinn inhabitants can feel quite safe because of the quality of the water coming from Ülemiste pump, it seems that the same does not apply to people from Narva, Kohtla-Jarve, Johvi, Sillamae, Mahe, Maardu, Paldiski, Saku, Viimsi and Turi, which waters appear to be containing too high quantities of iron and manganese or a carcinogen such as trihalomethane.

Aune Annus, senior specialist at the Health Protection Inspectorate, commented the news explaining how not respecting the European standards will put not only health but also the life of some company at risk. “We can’t issue marketing authorization to water companies that didn’t meet the requirements by the end of last year. We have ten such companies [but] we can’t close the tap as people need water. There are also indicators that are not dangerous for the health, so we have given sellers a precept and deadlines to fix things.”

The Ministry of Social Affairs indicated as 150.000 the number of people who are currently served by companies which might not see their permission to operate in the market renewed. Quite a few in a country where a bottle of Eviàn costs 1.40 euros.