Heavy rain and flooding in recent weeks have greatly diminished the quality of drinking water in some parts of Sweden, Swedish public radio reported on Friday.In some areas of the Scandinavian country, known for sparkling clean drinking water straight from the tap, chemicals are being added to make the water safe enough to consume, according to Sveriges Radio.
Bertil Sandberg, technical chief of the badly flooded Alvesta county in southern Sweden interviewed by the radio, blamed the contamination on sewage that had seeped into wells swamped by all the excess water.
Since the beginning of July, torrential rains have flooded large parts of southern and northern Sweden, cutting off roads, hindering rail traffic and leaving one seven-year-old Danish boy and a 60-year-old man dead.
A number of counties remain flooded.
All rights reserved. Copyright 2003 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.
Quick Links
TerraDaily
Search TerraDaily
Subscribe To TerraDaily Express