OREANDA-NEWS. February 04, 2010. 99,3 per cent of water samples taken from the taps of the customers of the largest water undertaking in Tallinn and surrounding municipalities, AS Tallinna Vesi, were compliant with requirements, demonstrating an increase of 1,3 per cent from 2008.

AS Tallinna Vesi's COO David Hetherington said that the quality of drinking water provided to Tallinners is nearly on the same level as in Western Europe. „Although there is no comparative quality data available for other cities in Estonia, we are convinced that the water quality in Tallinn is the best in the Baltics,“ noted Hetherington. „AS Tallinna Vesi's operating indicators were very good in 2009 and the company has consistently exceeded the product and service quality standards it committed to in 2001,“ added Hetherington. The number of unplanned interruptions in 2009 decreased by four per cent compared to 2008, while the number of properties affected by these interruptions decreased by 17 per cent.

The total lenght of interruptions decreased from over 40.000 hours to less than 30.000 hours. The level of water leakages has decreased to 16,6 per cent, this means a save of 40 swimming pools of clean drinking water per day compared to 2008. Altogether 23,6 kilometres of water pipes and 6,4 kilometres of sewerage pipes were reconstructed last year. „Based on these indicators it is clear that that AS Tallinna Vesi's service reliability and the company's impact on surrounding enironment has improved significantly during past years,“ said Hetherington. The Company laid 4,6 kilometres of new water pipes in 2009 instead of the planned 3,3 kilometres and 42,3 kilometres of new sewerage pipes instead of the planned 38,6 kilometres. Additionally 5,9 kilometres of sewerage pipes planned for 2010 were laid as well.

AS Tallinna Vesi supplied over 23,4 million cubic metres of water to the public water network in 2009 and. Paljassaare waste-water treatment plant treated over 46,2 million cubic metres of waste water. „Increased nitrogen volumes in the wastewater need more treatment in order to secure the cleanliness of Tallinn's beaches and that is why AS Tallinna Vesi will be investing nearly 200 million kroons into building an additional treatment stage at the Paljassaare wastewater treatment plant,“ added Hetherington.

AS Tallinna Vesi invested over 250 million kroons in 2009, of which over 200  million kroons were invested into the networks, 17.4 million kroons in the Paljassaare wastewater treatment plant, 6.4 million kroons into water quality and 19.1 millions kroons into other investments. The Company is committed to delivering an over 300 million kroon investment programme in 2010, with the main focus being the 200 million kroon investment into the biofilter treatment stage at Paljassaare wastewater treatment plant in 2010-2011 and the completion of the network extension program.