Industry's water consumption down 10% in 2021
Ljubljana, 2 October - Slovenia's industrial water use totalled 92.9 billion cubic metres last year, down 10% year-on-year. The decline was mainly driven by less favourable hydrological conditions, fresh data from the Statistics Office shows.
Brežice
Hydropower plant.
Photo: STA
File photo
Of the 92.9 billion cubic metres, the vast majority - 92.2 billion cubic metres were used for industrial production, 736 million cubic metres for cooling and three million cubic metres for sanitation and other purposes such as washing vehicles or watering green areas.
In industrial activities, water used to power turbines in hydroelectric power stations accounted for the largest share of total industrial water use, same as in every year so far since the start of these records.
The bulk of this water, 92 billion cubic metres, was used in registered hydropower stations. The figure is down by a tenth compared to 2020, but still almost 6% more than in 2019.
In manufacturing, water use dropped by 5% in 2021, and in electricity, gas and steam supply by 10%. Both decreases were due to the reduction in the use of water to drive turbines in hydropower stations.
In water supply, sewage and waste management, and environmental remediation, water use declined by 17%. Only the mining industry used more water than in the previous year, having recorded an 18% increase.
Some 751 million cubic metres of wastewater were discharged back into the environment from industry in 2021, down by 9% at the annual level.
Most of this water, 97%, was only thermally polluted. Of the remaining 61 million cubic metres of wastewater, slightly more than one third went through wastewater treatment before discharge.