Review the groundwater protection plan for the municipality of Janakkala, completed in early 2026: Janakkala municipality’s groundwater protection plan.

Protecting groundwater ensures clean drinking water for residents now and in the future. The protection plan guides land use in groundwater areas. Janakkala’s groundwater protection plan was updated during 2025 and completed in early 2026. Janakkala municipality’s permit sub-committee approved the protection plan with its attachments at its meeting on March 11, 2026. Ramboll Finland Oy was responsible for preparing the protection plan. Häme ELY Center (from Jan 1, 2026 Finnish Supervisory Agency) granted discretionary state aid for the update work.

Important groundwater areas are classified into three categories:

• Class 1: A groundwater area important for water supply, whose water is used or intended to be used for municipal water supply or as domestic water at more than an average of 10 cubic metres per day or for the needs of more than fifty people.
• Class 2: A groundwater area not currently used for water supply, which, because of its groundwater yield and other characteristics, is suitable for the use referred to in point 1.
• Class E: A groundwater area on which surface water or a terrestrial ecosystem is directly dependent.

According to section 17 of the Environmental Protection Act, substances, energy or microorganisms must not be placed, released or led to a location or handled in such a way that:

• on an important or other groundwater area suitable for water supply, a change in groundwater quality may cause danger or harm to health or the environment, or the groundwater quality may otherwise deteriorate significantly;
• a change in the groundwater quality on another property may cause danger or harm to health or the environment or render the groundwater unsuitable for the purpose for which it could be used; or
• an action that affects groundwater quality may otherwise infringe on the public interest or another’s private interest (prohibition on contaminating groundwater).

Important groundwater areas of the municipality of Janakkala
Descriptions of Janakkala’s groundwater areas (PDF in Finnish)

Preserving groundwater quality and yield

The quality of drinking water and supervision of its monitoring is the responsibility of the environmental health care.

The Finnish Supervisory Agency is responsible for guidance and supervision of groundwater protection and for supervision of groundwater intakes. For general groundwater-related questions, please contact the Finnish Supervisory Agency’s customer service (environmental matters).

Janakkala’s environmental protection supervises, in permit and notification procedures and other activities, that groundwater contamination is not caused. The groundwater protection plan aims to safeguard groundwater resources so that they remain usable without unnecessarily restricting other forms of land use in groundwater areas. The protection plan includes risk mapping and proposed measures.