Luxembourg’s Minister of the Environment, Climate and Biodiversity, Serge Wilmes, in collaboration with Luxembourg's Water Management Administration (AGE), honoured nineteen drinking water suppliers during a ceremony held on Wednesday 17 April 2024.
Minister Wilmes rewarded these suppliers for their efforts to maintain the excellent quality of tap water in Luxembourg. According to analyses carried out regularly and following the potability criteria established by the World Health Organization, the tap water in Luxembourg is of a high quality, the ministry stressed.
The drinking water law, which came into force on 1 January 2023, sets the framework for guaranteeing water quality by defining the measures to be taken, taking into account technological developments, the presence of new pollutants and the needs of consumers. Under this law, the “Drëpsi” also received a legal basis as a certificate of excellence.
To maintain this high standard, ongoing maintenance and upkeep of drinking water networks and infrastructure is essential, the ministry noted. To obtain a "Drëpsi", drinking water suppliers undertake to carry out preventive work to guarantee proper functioning throughout the drinking water supply chain, i.e. from the water collection until it arrives at the consumers. This prevention work involves carrying out a risk analysis. In this way, each event likely to affect the quality or quantity of drinking water is analysed and evaluated to control the related risks.
In this context, Minister Wilmes, presented, on 17 April 2024, “Drëpsi” certificates of excellence to nineteen drinking water suppliers. “We can trust our tap water - and to guarantee this trust every day, the municipalities and municipal syndicates take on a great responsibility. To reward their efforts, the label 'Drëpsi' was created in 2006, and it was awarded once again,” he said.
The “Drëpsi” certificate exists in different levels of excellence (platinum, gold, silver and bronze) which are awarded based on efficient risk management for different types of infrastructure (resource, storage, processing, distribution). They promote drinking water suppliers by giving them visibility for their ongoing efforts and commitments in the management of their supply system.
The validity period of the certificates is six years.
The winners in 2024 were:
- Drëpsi Platinum: the municipal administrations of Dudelange, Helperknapp, Lenningen and Leudelange;
- Drëpsi Gold: the municipal administrations of Berdorf, Betzdorf, Fischbach, Groussbus-Wal, Kopstal, Redange-sur-Attert, Rumelange, Strassen, Vichten and Wormeldange;
- Drëpsi Silver: the municipal administrations of Diekirch, Reckange-sur-Mess, Rosport-Mompach and Wincrange;
- Drëpsi Bronze: the municipal administration of Koerich.