Even though it’s finally been raining in the Norwegian capital, and quite a lot at times, it still hasn’t been enough to sufficiently raise reservoir levels. That’s prompted Oslo officials to maintain their appeal to residents to save water.
Initial appeals late last winter, when snow levels were much lower than usual, didn’t help much. When the city repeated its warnings of water shortages last month, though, the public responded. “We’re using less water than earlier, and I commend everyone for that, but we still need to continue saving water for the forseeable future,” Hanne Sofie Fremstad of Oslo’s water and sewage department told newspaper Dagbladet.
That means shorter showers, turning off the water while brushing teeth and generally being conscious of water conservation needs. Water levels in the large lake that supplies most of Oslo’s drinking water, Maridalsvannet, have risen nearly 2 percent, but it’s not enough and the risk of shortages won’t be over until November even if rainfall returns to “normal” this summer and fall.
newsinenglish.no staff
