Groundwater areas are being protected in Janakkala: protection plan updated
The protection of groundwater secures clean drinking water for residents now and in the future. The protection plan guides land use in groundwater areas. The protection plan for Janakkala’s groundwater areas was updated during 2025 and completed in early 2026. The Janakkala municipal permit sub-committee approved the protection plan with its appendices at its meeting on March 11, 2026. The protection plan was prepared by Ramboll Finland Oy. The Häme ELY Center (from January 1, 2026 the Finnish Supervisory Agency) granted discretionary state aid for the plan’s update work.
The protection plan for Janakkala’s groundwater areas is a study and guidance that can be applied, for example, in land use planning, official supervision and permit processes. The protection plan compiles information on the groundwater areas and water intakes in the Janakkala area, as well as risk sites that threaten groundwater. Based on the risk assessment, action recommendations have been presented to ensure the quantitative and qualitative permanence of the groundwater areas.
The protection plan was prepared to cover all groundwater areas important for Janakkala’s water supply (class 1) as well as groundwater areas suitable for water supply (class 2). In addition, several groundwater areas have an E-marking, meaning they contain surface water or terrestrial ecosystems dependent on groundwater. Janakkala has eight class 1 groundwater areas and fourteen class 2 groundwater areas, both of which also include E-marked areas.
The most significant groundwater area for water abstraction is the Turenki groundwater area, which yields about 40% of the water taken from Janakkala’s groundwater areas. Janakkala Water, owned by the Janakkala municipality, operates as a municipal enterprise and has five operational water intakes. In addition, there are four water cooperatives and five company or private water intakes operating in Janakkala.
The most recent water management action programme has designated as at-risk groundwater areas those with particularly intense human activity: Hallakorpi, Tanttala, Tarinmaa and Turenki.
The protection plan also gathers information on the risk sites located in each groundwater area. Risk sites include, for example, activities requiring environmental or extraction permits, sites in the MATTI register related to (possible) soil contamination, oil tanks located in the groundwater area, mostly discontinued extraction sites of aggregates (including the sites mapped in the SOKKA project), road traffic and railways, and transformer stations.
A comprehensive steering group representing various parties was established to prepare the protection plan; it will continue as the plan’s monitoring group.
Read more about the groundwater areas protection plan here.