The Danish National Audit Office criticizes the authorities’ implementation of legislation on groundwater protection. The water sector is fighting to protect drinking water from pesticides and is calling on politicians to end a practice that challenges the precautionary principle.
Pesticides can be banned if they leach into the groundwater. However, the Danish Environmental Protection Agency can subsequently administratively exempt and allow the use of the banned pesticides if it is assessed that they have an invaluable commercial interest. The water sector is now calling on politicians to dig into the practice and intervene.
“It is crucial that the precautionary principle is put above commercial considerations so that the protection of groundwater is enforced effectively. It is no use having an advanced and expensive approval system that detects a pesticide that leaches into the groundwater and then is banned if it can then only obtain an exemption for years. It is the equivalent of buying a smoke alarm and dropping the battery,” says Director of DANVA, Carl-Emil Larsen.
In 2012, the pesticide rimsulfuron was banned because it was found in the experimental fields that check whether substances leach into the groundwater. It also turned out that rimsulfuron has found its way into 50-year-old groundwater. However, since 2013, rimsulfuron has nevertheless been granted a dispensation by the Danish Environmental Protection Agency.
Susan Münster, CEO of Danske Vandværker, believes this is worrying:
“We have seen a large number of findings of pesticide residues in the groundwater in recent years. These are the consequences of years of use of environmentally harmful substances. We appeal to politicians to follow up on the conclusions of the National Audit Office, so that substances that can leach into the groundwater will have a harder time obtaining a dispensation,” says Susan Münster.
DANVA and Danske Vandværker are calling on the Minister of the Environment to tighten up the dispensation scheme by not allowing the application of prohibited pesticides in catchment areas and to notify water utilities in the event of a dispensation, which can be included in the analysis programs.
Rimsulfuron is a herbicide used in potato cultivation. Since rimsulfuron was banned in 2012, sales have been increasing.
The Danish Environmental Protection Agency’s justification for granting an exemption to allow the use of the banned substance, rimsulfuron, is that the agency believes there are no alternatives to it and that it will result in a yield loss for potato growers of 25 percent.
However, the water sector is aware that losses can be minimized or completely avoided by using mechanical weed control in combination with other herbicides.

