Oslo, Norway - In 2009, 0.47 per cent (164 kilometres) of existing sewage pipeline system in Norway was renewed. Renewal of old pipelines was less than half the rate of installation of new sewage pipelines, which was 1.23 per cent (432 kilometres). Unless renewal increases to a higher level, this will unavoidably lead to aging wastewater pipelines throughout the municipalities. Even without new installations, it will – given the current renewal rate – take more than 200 years to renew the whole pipeline system.

Estimations for 2009 show that there are around 35,200 kilometres of municipal sewage pipelines in the whole country (not including separate storm water pipelines), which is equal to approximately 88 per cent of the circumference of the earth at the equator. The sewage pipelines can be divided into 7,600 kilometres of combined sewage and storm water and 27,600 kilometres with a separate sewage system. The municipalities in the counties of Akershus and Rogaland hold the longest sewage system, while counties in Nordland have the largest share of combined sewer systems.

In addition to the 35,200 kilometres of sewage systems, there is also an additional 19,600 kilometres of separate storm water pipelines. Hence, there are around 54 800 kilometres of municipal wastewater pipeline systems in Norway.

A total of 4.5 per cent of the municipal sewage pipelines were installed before 1940, while 50.9 per cent were installed in 1980 or later. In addition, the installation date of 10.4 per cent of the pipelines is unknown, but it is likely that they are old. The renewal rate for this category is relatively high at 1.8 per cent in 2009. By comparison, there was a 0.39 per cent renewal rate for sewage pipelines installed before 1940 and a renewal rate of 0.21 per cent for pipelines installed in 1980 or later.

Pumping stations are sometimes used to direct wastewater against gravity (uphill etc). For 2009 it has been estimated that there are around 8,700 municipally-owned pumping stations in Norway; an average density of 0.25 pumping stations per kilometre.

In 2009, it was calculated that there are around 84 per cent of inhabitants connected to municipal wastewater facilities of 50 person equivalents (pe) or more. Private solutions are most common among small wastewater facilities (less than 50 pe). The 1.0 per cent deviation between reported data on inhabitants connected and official population statistics – shown in the table – reflects the uncertainty in the reported data for inhabitants connected.

Quelle: Statistics Norway

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