Slight fall in water use in the industry sector
Statistical news from Statistics Sweden 2016-09-19 9.30
The total use of water in industry in 2015 was 2 222 million m3. This is a slight decrease compared to the latest measurement, conducted in 2010.
The industry sector accounts for the largest use of water in Sweden and is responsible for approximately two thirds of total water use in all areas. Following relatively high levels in the postwar period, water use in the industry sector decreased sharply in the 1970s, and has levelled off since then. Likely causes of the decreased water use included industrial restructuring, in which some types of water-intensive industry disappeared from Sweden, combined with the introduction of more water-saving production processes. Since the 1980s, water use has remained at a relatively stable level, with only minor variations between surveys.
Statistics Sweden's surveys in 2005 and 2010 indicated an insignificant increase in water use. However, this trend was broken in the 2015 survey. In 2015, total water use was 2 222 million m3 compared to 2 262 million m3 in 2010. The 2015 figures include use of drainage water from mines and quarries - a water category which was not included in the 2010 survey.
Self-supply of surface water is the clearly dominant water category in the industry sector. Approximately 56 percent of the abstracted water comes from the enterprises' own surface water supply, while groundwater accounts for only approximately 1 percent. Sea water also accounts for a significant proportion of water use, but is primarily linked to certain industries and is used to a large extent for cooling purposes.
Water purchased from the public drinking water supply accounts for a relatively small part of total water withdrawal overall. However, the survey shows that the amounts of purchased water increased significantly since the latest measurement in 2010.
As in previous surveys, the statistics show that abstraction and use of water are unevenly distributed among different industries. The pulp and paper industry accounts for the largest levels of abstraction and use - more than 800 million m3.
The manufacture of chemicals and chemical products and the steel and metal works industries also use large volumes of water. Together with the pulp, paper and paper products industries, water withdrawal in these industries amounts to 76 percent of total water withdrawal in the industry sector.
Definitions and explanations
In the survey, the industry sector was defined as workplaces listed in Statistics Sweden's Business Register under SNI 2007 (NACE) coding 07-33 (mining and quarrying industries and manufacturing industries) with at least ten employees. Workplaces in parts of the energy sector, that is parts of SNI 35, were also included. In the energy sector, hydropower was excluded in accordance with EU recommendations. Nuclear power plants were included in the survey, but not in the overall report of abstraction and use of water in the industry sector. This is due to nuclear power plants' very large direct withdrawal of sea water, which, if included, would complicate reporting and interpretation of the statistics. Information on nuclear power plants is reported separately in a Statistical Report.
Water abstraction refers to water that enterprises withdraw from their own water supply or that they purchase from the municipality or other enterprises.
Water use refers to water that is actually used in production in some way. Abstracted volumes may be larger than used volumes. This is largely because drainage water from mines and quarries is included in water withdrawal, but is only included in water use if it is actually reused. A considerable proportion of drainage water is returned to the natural water cycle without use.
Publication
This report is published in more detail in the Statistical Report.
Feel free to use the facts from this statistical news but remember to state Source: Statistics Sweden.