Framework for Aarhus Vand
Aarhus Vand is a Danish public limited company owned by Aarhus Municipality. The purpose of the company is to create health through the supply of clean water—to the population and the planet. The vision is to create a national platform as a driver for local and global solutions for a healthier water cycle.
The company's activities comprise production and distribution of drinking water, transport and purification of wastewater, rainwater handling, including climate adaptation projects as well as safeguarding a balanced and healthy water cycle.
We recover, treat, and distribute more than 15 million m3 of drinking water and purify more than 30 million m3 of wastewater every year at eight waterworks and four wastewater treatment plants. The company has 235 employees.
Aarhus Vand's income is based on user payments in the form of connection fees, fixed charges, road charges, variable water and sewage disposal charges and a charge for emptying private holding tanks. Under the Danish Consolidated Act on Water Supply and the Act on Payment Rules for Wastewater, the income must finance the company's annual production and administration costs, its financial items, and investments.
Aarhus municipality's owner strategy
The owner strategy for municipally-owned companies—including Aarhus Vand—makes up the overall framework for the realisation and implementation of the objectives of the individual company. The owner strategy establishes directions for Aarhus Vand’s Board and Management, and it is the municipality’s way of expressing its attitudes and expectations of the company.
The impact of the owner strategy on Aarhus Vand has been described in the section “Collaboration with Aarhus Municipality”.
State regulation of the water sector
The Supply Secretariat—under the Danish Competition and Consumer Authority—is charged with regulating the company's finances according to a price cap based on the company's historical prices, developments in its costs, and demands for efficiency improvement.
The principles of this regulation are:
- Increased efficiency in the water sector
- Support and further development of high standards for the environment, services, and security of supply
- Less bureaucratic organising and inspection
- Better framework for technological development in the water sector
The regulation consists of the following points, among others:
- Efficiency gains
- Benchmarking
- Increased flexibility
- High demands on the environment, health, and continuity and security of supply
- Consolidation
- Technology development
In addition to this statutory regulation of the water sector, the Danish government’s climate action plan and vision for green transition constitute a framework for Aarhus Vand—for instance, in relation to supporting the goal of reducing the emission of greenhouse gasses by 70% in 2030.
And in relation to the Government’s more stringent requirements for the protection of drinking water through the introduction of protection zones around Danish drinking water wells.