Tallinn water supply system is a

water supply system A water supply network or water supply system is a system of engineered hydrologic and hydraulic components that provide water supply. A water supply system typically includes the following: # A drainage basin (see water purification – sour ...

that provides

potable water Drinking water is water that is used in drink or food preparation; potable water is water that is safe to be used as drinking water. The amount of drinking water required to maintain good health varies, and depends on physical activity level, ...

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and t ...

's capital city

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju '' ...

. 90% of Tallinn's potable water is produced from the

surface water Surface water is water located on top of land forming terrestrial (inland) waterbodies, and may also be referred to as ''blue water'', opposed to the seawater and waterbodies like the ocean. The vast majority of surface water is produced by pr ...

. The heart of the system Ülemiste Water Treatment Plant is located in the centre of the city, beside the

Lake Ülemiste Lake Ülemiste ( et, Ülemiste järv) is the largest of the lakes surrounding Tallinn, Estonia. Ülemiste is the main part of the Tallinn water supply system, which supplies the city with most of its drinking water. The lake is fed mostly by Kur ...

. Because the natural catchment of the lake is quite small (52 km²), additional water is directed to Ülemiste via canals from

Pirita Pirita is one of the eight administrative districts ( et, linnaosa) of Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. Pirita occupies a relatively big area, but compared to other districts of Tallinn its population of 17,592 (as of 1 November 2014) is relati ...

, Jägala, Soodla and even from the upper stream of the

Pärnu River Pärnu () is the fourth largest city in Estonia. Situated in southwest Estonia, Pärnu is located south of the Estonian capital, Tallinn, and west of Estonia's second largest city, Tartu. The city sits off the coast of Pärnu Bay, an inlet of ...

in Pandivere Heights. The system includes 6 water reservoirs and 69 km of canals and pipelines, which makes the total area of the catchment 1865 km². The remaining 10% of the water in Tallinn comes from 29

groundwater Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available freshwater in the world is groundwater. A unit of rock or an unconsolidat ...

wells, mostly in the outskirts (

Nõmme Nõmme ( Estonian for ''"Heath"'') is one of the 8 administrative districts ( et, linnaosa) of Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. It has a population of 39,422 () and covers an area of , population density is . The district is largely a middle-cla ...

Kakumäe Kakumäe ( Estonian for ''"Owl Hill"'') is a subdistrict ( et, asum) in the district of Haabersti, Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. It is located at the top of the Kakumäe Peninsula, which is part of the Baltic Klint in the Tallinn Bay Tall ...

References

Water supply and sanitation in Estonia Economy of Tallinn {{estonia-stub