Grundfos welcomed water enthusiasts from around the world

Groundwater in such ample supply that it forms lakes on the ground’s surface is a totally unknown phenomenon in parts of the world, where the liquid is a very scarce resource.
Therefore, the scenery with flooded fields caused wonder with several of the water-aficionados, who had travelled half way around the world to get wiser on groundwater.

“There are extremely large measures of rainwater because of climate change. This has made groundwater levels rise,” explained Karen Villholth.

She is lead scientist at the International Water Management Institute and was invited to give a brief about the newest tendencies, challenges and solutions within the world of groundwater. It happened at the Grundfos-event, Groundwater Days, where guests were also given an exclusive possibility to experience how the company lives by its values, and what it offers its customers in innovative and sustainable products and services.

Possibilities in irrigation
The visitors represented for instance well drillers, pump dealers, consulting engineers and water utilities. Among them was Reginald Barry, who is machining engineer at Aurecon Group, a consulting engineering company in South Africa. He sees great possibilities for further using groundwater in his home country:

“I see great opportunities to further exploit groundwater in my homeland.”

“In some parts of South Africa, there is too much water, and in other parts there is far too little, so often it is necessary to move water through hundreds of kilometres of long pipelines. This is expensive, and therefore it will undoubtedly be profitable for farmers in remote areas to use groundwater for irrigation and livestock.”

“Especially the solar powered submersible pumps, I have been presented during my visit at Grundfos, will be interesting for farmers to bring groundwater to the surface. Partly because they are sustainable, and partly because they are not affected by frequent power cuts. Pumps equipped with remote monitoring, would offer further advantages because of the great distances,” Barry adds.

Stops pollution
Another participant at the Groundwater Days was John Hasslen, President, EPG Companies, USA, specialized in solutions to protect and remediate groundwater from pollution at landfills, Mines, Petroleum storage and leaking tanks:
“Our solutions remove the water, polluted from the waste, before it reaches the groundwater,” John Hasslen explains.
“We have a 30 years long tradition for using Grundfos submersible pumps for this task because of their documented strength and reliability. However, as we expose them for wear, far above what they are constructed for, it is necessary for us to further strengthen them,” Hasslen continued.
John Hasslen says that his visit in Denmark has confirmed for him that Grundfos is still the best supplier of the estimated 600 pumps, his company sells worldwide for groundwater protection every year.

A gaze into the future
Reginald Barry, John Hasslen and the other guests met Karen Villholth at the Truelsbjerg water works near Aarhus. It is one of the most advanced and future-ready water works in Denmark. Here they could see for themselves, how some of the best Grundfos-technologies are used in practice as well as listen to the researcher’s tales about the world’s sought after groundwater resources.

Among other things, Karen Villholth explained that groundwater is a resource under pressure many places around the world, because it is coveted as a safe source of drinking water. A possible, decisive way of solving this lies in public-private partnerships, according to the researcher.

“Not just here, but globally, Grundfos is an important player, when it comes to bringing sustainable technologies into play within water supply,” Karen Villholth stated after the guest’s tour of the water works and then added a piece of advice:

“Grundfos must get better at dropping its Danish modesty and speak up about the company’s abilities within sustainable water supply.”