This Act (Act amending the Environmental Protection Act, the Water Supply Act, etc., the Payment Rules for Wastewater Supply Companies, etc. Act and the Water Sector Act (Wastewater supply companies' handling of near-surface groundwater by means of groundwater lowering measures and tariff financing thereof and amended rules on permits for discharge or other lowering of groundwater)) is an implementation of one of the initiatives that the government presented with Climate Adaptation Plan I in October 2023. In cities, elevated groundwater can cause damage to buildings, especially for homeowners with basements. In rural areas, yields drop when the groundwater level exceeds 1 meter, and in some places the harvest can fail completely.
This Act will mean that municipalities must determine in their wastewater plans areas in cities where near-surface groundwater is assessed to be a problem. The wastewater supply companies must then implement groundwater lowering measures if it is economically appropriate, for example by laying drainage pipes in the ground to carry the water away. At the same time, wastewater supply companies will be given the opportunity to finance the solutions via tariff increases, the size of which will depend on the extent of the problem in the wastewater company's supply areas.
