Case
Water management
Water supply
HOFOR - Greater Copenhagen Utility is the largest utility company in Denmark. One million Danes depend on our supplies. The company is owned by 8 municipalities, and the City of Copenhagen owns 73 per cent of the company.
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As a result HOFOR has decided to decalcify water throughout our supply area in the coming years. By 2025, we predict that as much as 75% of water will be softened. Some areas, e.g. Brøndby, have had softer water since 2017.
HOFOR customers with softened water can save one-third of the detergent they use in laundry and cleaning. Softer water also protects the environment from the harmful effects of the chemical substances that we use to remove limescale from household appliances. At the water treatment plant, we will have to remove less of the harmful substances that originate from detergents and other cleaners from the wastewater.
In addition to saving our customers the time they would have spent on descaling household appliances, our softer water prolongs the lifespan of these appliances. Calcium carbonate (lime) precipitates from water when it is heated, and lime settles as limescale on pipes and in household appliances. Limescale is the solid deposits you see on the inside of electric kettles and coffee machines. Limescale costs extra electricity for heating water and can ultimately make the appliance unserviceable. A survey conducted by DTU (Technical University of Denmark) shows that if consumers use softened rather than hard water, there is 30 % less limescale in their electric kettles and they use 60 % less kettle cleaner.
For several good reasons, HOFOR uses the pellet decalcification method at our waterworks This method is beneficial as it costs less in terms of energy and wastewater than other water-softening methods and the surplus lime can be recycled and used e.g. in agricultural soil amendment. At the waterworks, the lime content in the water is reduced. Water hardness falls from above 20 ˚dH to 10-12 ˚dH.
Watch this video to see how we soften the water at our water plants:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-ZB9RKtdAk&feature=emb_logo
We are an active partner in 3VAND – a strategic collaborative partnership consisting of the leading water utilities in Denmark: HOFOR, BIOFOS, Aarhus Vand and VCS Denmark.
