This is stated by the Danish Society for Nature Conservation on the basis of a data extract from the GEUS database Jupiter, which is a nationwide drilling database.
– It is really, really much that finds of pesticide residues are so frequent in groundwater. It is extremely alarming, says Maria Reumert Gjerding, who is president of the Danish Society for Nature Conservation.
Throughout 2020, pesticide residues were found in 51.8 percent of the measurements. In 2016, the figure was 25.2 percent.
The Danish Society for Nature Conservation believes that 2021 could be a record year for the discovery of pesticides in drinking water.
The reason why there are a number of more pesticide residues in Danish drinking water in recent years is that in recent years a number of new substances have begun to be analyzed.
– It has been acknowledged that it has underestimated the problem, and it has been acknowledged that it is necessary to investigate for more substances. We can see that the problem is far bigger than we thought, says Maria Reumert Gjerding.
She says the waterworks shout guard at gunpoint every time they find pesticide residues in the water.
– It is completely unique for Denmark that we can just turn on the tap, and then we get our groundwater, which is not chemically purified and treated with everything possible. That is the resource we must take care of, she says.
She says that the Danish Society for Nature Conservation has an offer to solve the challenge.
– We know the areas in which the drinking water of the future is formed. It’s about banning any kind of pesticide on those areas, she says.
She says that it is about 200,000 hectares of land and admits that it is a lot.
– Either you have to grow organically if you operate in those areas, or you have to buy those areas and lay them out for nature.
She urges Environment Minister Lea Wermelin (S) to get on the field and put tangible funds into use.
On Monday night, an agricultural agreement backed by a broad political majority fell into place.
In it, there is an ambition to extract 100,000 hectares of agricultural land that can be given back to nature.
However, it has not yet been decided which areas it will be, and therefore it is not known whether it will have an impact on groundwater.
Source: The Nordic Page