Customer case: Fjelstrup Water Treatment Plant

Building a new water treatment plant is usually a long process. A lot of work comes before the actual building project, but it is crucial in order to be well prepared. That was also the case with Fjelstrup Water Treatment Plant in southern Jutland, Denmark. 

– We began the process all the way back in February 2016. In the beginning, we spent a lot of time buying the land, researching and planning. We signed the contract with Kemic Water Technology in October 2020, turned the first sod in spring 2021, and since June 1st 2022 the new waterworks has been in full operation, just as planned, tells Børge Griepentrog, head of the board at Fjelstrup Water Treatment Plant.

Børge Griepentrog and the rest of the board has been deeply involved and very curious all through the process. One of the highlights was when the giant clean water tanks of 100 cubic meters each were delivered at the site:

– We were in touch with Kemic about what happened on the site continuously, and I often swung by and was always welcomed by the friendly technicians. The morning they came with the clean water tanks – that was really exciting to watch. It was tight, but they managed to get them into the building.

When asked for one piece of advice for others who might be about to build a new water treatment plant, Børge Griepentrog recommends hiring help for the administrative tasks:

– There are so many things you don’t know before starting a project this bug. Kemic also helped us apply for the necessary permits and took care of the dialogue with the city. There is so much to apply for and they know all about it, so we felt completely safe that they took control.

At Kemic Water Technology, Jan Thomsen agrees that there is a lot to deal with. But as the project manager, it is his job also to make sure all permits and plans are in place – a task he takes great pride in.

– For instance, there is a law concerning the visibility of churches in Denmark, which means that the water treatment plant in Fjelstrup needed to be placed very specifically on the building plot to avoid obstructing the view to the nearby church. Everything taller than a small roadside stand would be against this specific law, so it was important to account for, Jan Thomsen explains.

The new state of the art waterworks in Fjelstrup is built with to operation lines of closed pressure vessels, which treats water from a total of three boreholes, delivering drinking water to 480 consumers. In addition, the water treatment plant is emergency supplier for a local food processing factory. With the old water treatment plant, there was only capacity available at night, but with the new plant, emergency supply is available around the clock.

Read more and see pictures from the construction process at http://fjelstrup-vandvaerk.dk/