Our first priority is to provide our customers with high-quality drinking water, reliable water supply and wastewater discharge services. Similar to previous years, the nine months of 2015 can be characterised with excellent quality levels of our services. We will continue to focus on maintaining and improving all our key performance indicators so our consumers can rely on the service they receive. The nine months of the year confirm the quality of drinking water in Tallinn that has been excellent already for years, thus, we keep encouraging people to prefer tap water for drinking water. Low leakage level reducing on a quarterly basis is another positive sign of the Company’s excellent performance.
We continue to commit to the improvement of customer service and focus on activities that will increase the environmental awareness of the community. We also carry out initiatives that have a significant long-term positive effect on our environment. One of such initiatives was a recently completed extensive project of building fish passes at three dams of the reservoirs in Ülemiste catchment area delivered in cooperation with the Environmental Investments Centre.
Operational indicators for the nine months of 2015
| Indicator | 2014 9 months | 2015 9 months |
| Drinking water | ||
| Compliance of water quality at the customers’ tap | 99.77% | 99.86% |
| Water loss in the water distribution network | 16.33% | 14.58% |
| Average duration of water interruptions per property in hours | 2.96 h | 3.20 h |
| Wastewater | ||
| Number of sewer blockages | 582 | 583 |
| Number of sewer bursts | 95 | 91 |
| Wastewater treatment compliance with environmental standards | 100% | 100% |
| Customer Service | ||
| Number of written complaints | 51 | 57 |
| Number of customer contacts regarding water quality | 129 | 81 |
| Number of customer contacts regarding water pressure | 273 | 226 |
| Number of customer contacts regarding blockages and discharge of storm water | 788 | 855 |
| Responding written customer contacts within at least 2 work days | 98.90% | 99.0% |
| Number of failed promises | 42 | 9 |
| Notification of unplanned water interruptions at least 1 h before the interruption | 96.77% | 98.9% |
Tap water is drinking water
Quality of drinking water has a significant impact on public health and wellbeing. Tap water quality in the capital city has been comparable to that of any Western European state for several years now, and therefore we keep encouraging people to drink tap water. Strict legal requirements are set for the quality of drinking water and this quality is monitored according to the drinking water monitoring programs approved by the Health Board. Water quality is most characterised by the compliance with the legislative acts. Similar to previous periods, nine months of 2015 showed once again a very good performance with regard to water quality. In the nine months, we took a total of 2 209 water samples from the consumers’ taps and only 3 of those exceeded the limit values. We immediately carried out maintenance works on the water network on the relevant streets, following which new samples were taken that were fully compliant. Altogether, we carried out 18,550 water analyses. In Maardu, water quality was 100% compliant.
A reliable service
It is important for the residents to have a high-quality 24/7 service available. Therefore, we focus a lot on planning and optimizing our activities, in order to prevent, if possible, or reduce the unpleasant impact potentially caused by our services. We also deem very important that our customers know when their questions would be resolved or when we are performing the works that might impact their activities. We monitor the compliance with the promised deadlines with proper diligence and inform our customers if we are not able to fulfil these agreements. If we plan any repair works or interruptions to water supply, we inform our customers of related interruptions in advance. On the other hand, unplanned interruptions come unexpected and we need to take immediate actions. Our consumers are also affected by unplanned interruptions, thus, we have set ourselves a target to notify our customers at least one hour before an unplanned interruptions. In nine months of 2015, we gave advance notifications to our customers in 98.9% of cases, which is slightly higher than 96.77% in 2014.
A reliable service also means that there are less inconveniencies for residents caused by water interruptions and they have less reasons to contact us. The number of customer contacts has been decreasing remarkably year-on-year, which is a sign of stable improvements both in providing the service and the customer service. In nine months of 2015, the customer contacts regarding water quality have reduced by 37% and regarding water pressure by 17% compared to the same period in 2014. Customer complaints give us the idea of the more problematic issues that need our immediate attention. In nine months of 2015, the number of customer contacts has reduced well by 79% year-on-year. Compared to the nine months of 2014, when dissatisfaction was expressed in 42 cases, it happened only in 9 cases in 2015.
Cleaner environment
We provide wastewater discharge service to nearly one third of the Estonia’s population. The effective work of the wastewater treatment plant in Paljassaare contributes to keeping the purity of water in the Baltic Sea and Gulf of Finland and ensures the compliance with environmental requirements.
We continue to focus on possible risks of floodings and pollution incidents as well as on reducing the inconveniencies we may cause to the customers. The number of blockages characterizes the conditions of sewer network the best. The sediments accumulating in the sewerage pipelines are the main causes of blockages. In reducing the number of blockages, preventive actions, such as flushing the sewer network, play an important role. In nine months of 2015, the number of blockages remained at the level of the same period last year.
The level of leakages indicating water loss in the distribution network is also decreasing year-on-year due to preventive actions. Each quarter in 2015, the level of leakages has shown the lowest ever result the company has achieved. As at the end of nine months we can again say that we have achieved the lowest ever leakage rate. While in the same period in 2014 the leakage level was 16.33%, this year it had dropped by almost 11% to 14.58%. This saves approximately over 13,000 m3 of treated drinking water a day compared to the time 10 years ago.
Sustainable development
As our activities impact nearly one third of Estonia’s population, initiatives with a significant long-term positive effect on both our environment and community are extremely important for us. One of such initiatives was a recently completed extensive project of building fish passes at three dams of the reservoirs in Ülemiste catchment area delivered in cooperation with the Environmental Investments Centre. Tallinn’s main source of drinking water – Lake Ülemiste – is surrounded by a large water catchment system covering the total area of ca 1 800 km2 to secure additional raw water storage for the lake. In order to improve the biological diversity and natural environment of the rivers in the catchment area and through that also the conditions of the entire river system, fish passes were built on the Sae, Vaskjala and Kaunissaare dams. The total cost of the project was over 350,000 euros and the project of Vaskjala and Sae fish passes was co-financed by the Environmental Investments Centre in the amount of 180,000 euros.
Our aspiration is to raise awareness and promote environmental lifestyle among the population. We consistently work closely with our communities, both children and adults who use our services, on a range of activities, to promote environmental awareness. We encourage people to drink tap water through various campaigns and have involved several restaurants, partners and the public therein. In the end of August, we had 400 people visiting the open door days at Ülemiste Water Treatment Plant. This demonstrates that people are interested in how our drinking water, which is of vital importance for us all, is produced and how it gets to their tap.
Mariliis Mia Topp
Head of Communications
AS Tallinna Vesi
Ph: (+372) 62 62 275
mariliismia.topp@tvesi.ee