Clean water and sanitation

Providing safe drinking water and technologies to conserve it

More water conserving technologies are needed to ensure water is not wasted. Our innovative solutions help to ensure safe water delivery and to conserve it.

Water is a precious natural resource that must not be wasted. The European Commission estimates that 20-40 per cent of Europe’s available water is being wasted due to leakages and a lack of water saving technologies. Innovative solutions combined with smart technology help to conserve water and stop leakages.

Our answer is Phyn Plus, a smart water assistant that enables a homeowner to keep an eye on everything water-related in their house: water temperature, pressure and flow at each moment, total consumption and usage. It provides the homeowner with more detailed information than ever before about water usage in the house.

Safe water cannot always be taken for granted. Although incidents of waterborne infections resulting from indoor plumbing are rare, fresh tap water is teeming with harmless microbial life. Water that sits for a few days inside pipes can contain millions of bacteria.

Our closed loop installations and automatic flushing units keep water flowing and our heat interface units maintain the water temperature below 25°C, prevent cold water delivery pipes from warming up as well as generate hot drinking water on demand, thereby minimising the risk of legionella.

Municipalities have an important role to play in water supply and sewage. With our service concept, municipal drinking water distribution networks can be monitored in real-time. It keeps track of water flow, direction of flow and water quality. This enables the network owner to take immediate actions if an abnormality is detected.

Due to urbanisation and climate change, flooding waters are posing an increasing number of challenges, especially to cities. We have actively been working to solve these challenges for years. Our stormwater tanks, tunnels and cassettes offer a modern solution for attenuating and infiltrating stormwater runoff and meltwater close to the point of origin.

Read how world record and durable pipes were needed to avoid environmental disaster

Provide safe water

Background Regulation Our actions

Background

Water is crucial for everyday life around the world, but there is a growing concern for access to water as well as safe drinking water
The key factor in drinking water hygiene is preventing the growth of unwanted substances and living organisms

Regulation

Many countries consider the WHO Guidelines for drinking-water quality (GDWQ) to be the international reference point for the establishment of national or regional regulations and standards for water safety
EU Drinking Water Directive sets minimum quality standards for water intended for human consumption (drinking, cooking, other domestic purposes)
United States Environmental Protection Agency has tightened its drinking water regulation in recent years

Our actions

We develop innovative concepts that enable safe drinking water and economical consumption
- Our solutions help to keep the water temperature below 25°C and prevent cold water delivery pipes from warming up and our heat interface units generate hot drinking water on demand minimising the risk of legionella
- We have developed a service concept for municipalities’ drinking water distribution network monitoring. It keeps track on water flow, direction of flow and water quality
- We have also been actively working on the challenges presented by storm water for many years.
We are active in national and international standardisation groups and projects e.g. through The European Plastic Pipes & Fittings Association’s (TEPFFA), European Drinking Water, Water Europe and European Construction Technology platform as well as Plastics Pipe Institute and Plastic Pipe and Fittings Association in order to protect the quality of drinking water

Conserve water

Background Regulation Our actions

Background

Water is a scarce resource and shortage of water is listed as one of the largest global risks in terms of potential impact over the next decade by the World Economic Forum
Water scarcity prevails in a number of European river basins, with different water stress levels, affecting around 15-25 % of total European territory
Water leaks are underestimated as 20-40% of Europe’s available water is being wasted due to leakages in the water supply

Regulation

Policies and actions have been set up by the EU in order to prevent and mitigate water scarcity and drought situations, with the priority to move towards a water efficient and water saving economy (Strategy for Water Scarcity and Droughts and Blueprint to safeguard European waters)
Laws and regulations have already been tightened in many areas e.g. in California, USA, Senate Bill 606 and Assembly Bill 1668 set new urban-efficiency standards for indoor and outdoor uses, water lost to leaks and appropriate variances and came into effect in 2019 (grace period until Nov 2023)
The US Environmental Protection Agency has tightened its water related laws during the past years and will continue to do so

Our actions

In order to improve our water efficiency, our production sites use a closed-loop water circulation system for extrusion cooling purposes
We are analysing the water foot print of our production facilities. Based on the results actions will be planned how to improve water efficiency further
Our solutions e.g. smart water assistant Phyn help to conserve water and stop leakages e.g. as leakages and/or water quality deviations are indicated, the network owner receives alarm or event report
We raise and keep the benefits of functioning infrastructure in public discussion (e.g. cost benefits, health and conserving water)