Contaminants
Risk of Drinking Water Contamination from Wind Farm Development
Commissioned: 15.01.2025
Publishing: 01.12.2025
Key message:
The establishment of onshore wind farms may affect drinking water. VKM will provide an overview of the requirements that should be set for impact assessments when planning new wind power projects, so they avoid water contamination.
This is a request from the Norwegian Food Safety Authority. This authority manages drinking water and has requested this overview since they are a consultative body when wind farms are to be established.
Background
A wind farm may pollute the environment during establishment, operation, and decommissioning. If the wind farm is within a catchment area for drinking water, it may pose a contamination risk to the drinking water.
The Norwegian Food Safety Authority believes that impact assessments and environmental, transport, and construction plans are often inadequate regarding drinking water considerations. They have therefore asked VKM to identify contamination risks where wind farm establishment may conflict with drinking water resources. VKM has also been asked to develop requirements for information on and risk assessment of the dangers when applying for the establishment of wind farms. The overview includes the use of chemical substances and other relevant pollution that may pose a risk to drinking water throughout the wind farm's life cycle (construction, operation, maintenance, and decommissioning).
The project group consists of:
- Jan Alexander (Scientific Leader)
- Anders Ruus
- Espen Mariussen
- Martin Schlabach
- Inger-Lise Steffensen
- Helen Engelstad Kvalem
The assessment will be approved by VKM's Panel on Contaminants and is scheduled to be published in December 2025.
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