Sweden has an abundance of fresh water resources due to its many lakes and forests. The three largest lakes are Vanern, which supplies drinking water to 800,000 people; Vattern, which provides water to 240,000; and Malaren, which has water quality issues due to fertilizer runoff. Major rivers are also used for hydroelectric dams, though this impacts fish and wildlife. Some cities like Uppsala obtain drinking water from natural underground aquifers, though pumping is now needed to meet demand. The Baltic Sea receives fresh water from rivers and has issues with algal blooms fueled by nitrogen and phosphorus discharge from surrounding countries.

1. The water situation in
Sweden

2. Sweden – water basics
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Sweden has more than 100 000 lakes
9% of the total area
Public access
Together with Finland we are unique in Europe with
the amount of lakes and fresh water
The abundance of forests makes our water brown and
acidic

3. Largest lakes
Swedens largest lakes are;
• Vänern
•Vättern
•Mälaren

4. Vänern
Area: 5650 km², depth 27m
•
Europe’s third largest lake
•
800 000 people use this as
their water source
•
Healthy and clean lake,
only local problems in some
bays with blooming algee.

5. Vättern
Area: 1910 km², depth 40m
•
240 000 use it as a water
source
• It’s Europe’s fifth largest
lake
• It has cold water at a
yearly average of 7-8
degrees C
• This has its uses in the
cooling of facilities and
properties.

6. Mälaren
Area: : 1120 km², depth
only 13m
•
Mälaren has a problem
with over fertilization from
the agriculture along its
banks and the sewer water
from cities like Uppsala.
• This causes poisonous
blooming of algae.
•15 % of the population
drink the water from here.

7. Älvarna
• There
are several really
large rivers coming down
from the mountains in
northern Sweden.
• Only three of these are not
exploited by water energy
dams.
• These dams have a negative
impact on the fish and the
things living close to the
shore in or downstream of the
dams because of the large
variations in water level that
are created.

8. Uppsala drinking
water
•In Uppsala
we take our
drinking water from an
esker, a long winding ridge
of stone and gravel through
which water runs and comes
out naturally filtered and
clean.

9. • As
the population
has grown the water
that naturally runs
through it is not
enough. We now
pump water to the top
of it and use it as it
comes out.

10. The Baltic sea
•The
Baltic Sea is a
brackish sea. It gets fresh
water from rivers in the
north and is therefore the
least salty sea.

11. Algae
•
Nitrogen and phosphor is
let out by all the countries
around the Baltic Sea,
some more than others,
this fuels huge blooming
of algae. These die, sink,
and use up all the oxygen
at the bottom

12. •Since it
is international
water it is very hard to
regulate what is let out,
both nitrogen, phosphorus,
and more directly
poisonous substances.
Many large ships go out to
clean out the oil in their
tanks for example. There
is hope though because a
committee has been set up
and many many projects
work for the health of the
Baltic.