1.1 This is Vitens
About us
Vitens abstracts, purified and supplies approximately 353 billion litres of drinking water to around 6 million customers each year. These customers include both individuals and companies, spread across five provinces and some municipalities in Drenthe and North Holland. Our primary task is to ensure reliable drinking water: 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Now and in the future. We do this with more than 1,900 dedicated employees.
This is how we make drinking water
Abstraction of groundwater for water production
Most of the drinking water produced by Vitens comes from groundwater sources located tens to hundreds of metres deep. We pump this groundwater from 104 water abstraction areas. We manage these areas as sustainably as possible. This is how we encourage nature development and biodiversity.
Purification by natural filter and in production plants
Groundwater once seeped into the soil as rainwater or from rivers. This process can take hundreds of years. During this journey, the soil has already purified much of the water. We therefore refer to the soil as ‘filter zero'.
After pumping the water, we transport it to one of our 93 production plants for treatment. The purification process is slightly different everywhere because the composition of the groundwater at the sites is different. To purify the water, each production site goes through three purification steps: filtration, aeration, and post-filtration. It removes natural substances such as lime, iron and manganese and any contaminants from the water. Some of these residues are reused.
Via pipeline network with constant pressure to the customer
We pump drinking water from our production sites into the water supply network: a network of 48,000 kilometres of pipes. The water first enters the main transport lines, after which it is delivered to our customers via the smaller distribution and connection lines.