Page 148 - EER-2-1

Explora: Environment

and Resource

LETTER
Protecting drinking water by establishing

groundwater parks

Christian Sonne * and Martin Hansen 2
1
1 Department of Ecoscience, Faculty of Technical Sciences, Aarhus University, Roskilde, Denmark
2 DTU SUSTAIN, Department of Environmental and Resource Engineering, Technical University of
Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark

Clean groundwater is an important drinking water source in European countries, with
some of the best found in Denmark. Regrettably, the global perception of drinking
1
water safety is faltering, as toxic environmental contaminants such as pesticides and
2
fluorinated surfactants pose a threat to these sources, and action is needed across Europe
to ensure clean drinking water for the generations to come. Water contamination with a
3
plethora of pesticide and xenobiotic residues is problematic for drinking water producers
to tackle and has an unforeseeable impact on European public health by threatening, e.g.,
neuro-endocrine development and the function of internal organs.
4,5
In 2018, the EU Commission did not renew its approval of using herbicide diquat
in potato production given its adverse effects on human health. Despite this ban, the
Danish Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) still allowed Danish potato farmers
to use diquat-containing Reglone. Regrettably, it is not the first time that the Danish
6
EPA has approved the use of banned harmful pesticides. A few years ago, Danish sugar
beet growers received a similar temporary dispensation of neonicotinoids to pickle beet
9
7,8
*Corresponding author: seeds, while glyphosate is still used in the EU , despite their threats to biodiversity and
Christian Sonne pollinators. 10,11
(cs@ecos.au.dk)
The Danish EPA has in fact granted 131 releases during 2011 – 2019, claiming
Citation: Sonne C, Hansen
12
M. Protecting drinking water they are in line with food security. These exceptions are incomprehensible and
by establishing groundwater disappointing, given Denmark’s Blue and Green ambitions to support the EU’s
parks. Explora Environ Resour. environmental legislation, zero pollution ambition, and goal of reducing the use of
2025;2(1):6568.
13
doi: 10.36922/eer.6568 agricultural pesticides. Denmark should stop this political praxis to support the Global
Goals as a pioneering country. The lawmakers and EPAs need to resist the influential
14
Received: November 26, 2024
agricultural lobbying organizations and do its utmost efforts to manage and protect its
Accepted: November 28, 2024 ecosystems and environment. Denmark and other countries should follow the inspiring
Published online: December 30, move made by Austria that implements a complete ban of both diquat, neonicotinoid,
2024 and glyphosate to ensure safe food production in the EU as a whole.
9,10
Copyright: © 2024 Author(s). In addition to pollution, global warming further worsens the situation as it runs
This is an Open-Access article
distributed under the terms of the global groundwater wells dry, threatening water security, and making 3 billion
Creative Commons Attribution people lose their water supplies within 30 years. 15-17 To ensure clean groundwater for
License, permitting distribution,
and reproduction in any medium, future generations, groundwater parks established across Europe (and other relevant
provided the original work is regions worldwide) may be a good solution. This implies that these key areas are
properly cited. protected from the application of pesticides and nutritious sewage sludge, which
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Publisher’s Note: AccScience pollute drinking water as they seep down through the soil and into water wells.
Publishing remains neutral with Aside from keeping the groundwater clean, new wetlands help to mitigate global
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional warming while supporting the EU’s Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 due to their more
affiliations. protected nature. 19,20
Volume 2 Issue 1 (2025) 1 doi: 10.36922/eer.6568