Iceland review - 2014, Síða 63

ICELAND REVIEW 61
to install in all homes across the country.
Pricing water according to use, however, is
one of the points outlined in the directive.
Icelanders currently have among the highest
water usage per capita in the world but Davíð
says that this is due to having so much water
available. “It’s very difficult to get people to
change their behavior when something is in
abundance. There is a noticeable difference in
attitude in the southwest corner of the coun-
try where the population is most dense and
the pressure on the resource is recognized,
compared to rural parts of the country.”
Davíð warns, though, that with changes
in the climate, there have been shortages in
some areas at certain times of year. “If there
are extremes in the climate, it has shown to
be a problem in these areas. Groundwater is
not monitored in many areas.”
HEAlINg WATErS
The therapeutic qualities of water have
been used since the time of the Romans to
cleanse, heal and relax the body. Some of
the benefits of bathing in hot water include
the stimulation of the production of white
blood cells, which in turn strengthens the
immune system, and sweating, which helps
to remove toxins. Cold water, on the other
hand reduces inflammation and boosts cir-
culation. Iceland’s natural geothermal hot
springs and swimming pools are part of life
on the island but are also increasingly prov-
ing to be a drawcard for foreign visitors, says
Anna G. Sverrisdóttir, director of Iceland of
to ISK 44,000 (USD 375, EUR 270) in
Copenhagen. The company only provides
estimates for the other Nordic capitals but
says the price of cold water in Iceland is also
significantly lower than in other cities in the
developed world.
So ever-present is water in Iceland, says
U.S. artist Roni Horn, whose works focuses
on the issue of water and who has spent a
lot of time in Iceland, that it’s not some-
thing that is given a lot of thought. “Because
water is so ubiquitous in Iceland it is terribly
undervalued … but Iceland could, if it val-
ued its water … could really have a growing
economy based on preserving the purity of
its own water,” Horn said in an interview
with the BBC in 2012. It’s a case of “you’re
more aware of water when you’re thirsty,”
Horn explained. Horn opened the Library
of Water (Vatnasafn) in the seaside town of
Stykkishólmur, West Iceland, in 2007. The
exhibition ‘Water, Selected,’ is a constellation
of 24 glass columns containing water col-
lected from ice from 24 of Iceland’s major
glaciers.
In order for the concept of water efficien-
cy to gain traction, pricing water according
to use has to be implemented, says Tryggvi
Þórðarson, a limnologist at the Environment
Agency of Iceland who is involved in imple-
mentation of the European Union Water
Framework Directive in Iceland. “It doesn’t
encourage saving water if there is just one
price,” he says. The catch? Water can only be
priced by usage if meters are used, something
which Tryggvi says would be very expensive
Health, an association that promotes health
and wellness tourism in Iceland. “Many tour-
ists who come to Iceland end their day by
visiting a hot spring or swimming pool,” she
says. In April 2013, a study carried out by the
Icelandic Tourist Board found that around
70 percent of foreign tourists to Iceland vis-
ited swimming pools and nature baths while
in the country. “Mostly it’s tourists from
the Nordic countries, France, the U.S. and
especially Japan—the Japanese like the water
hotter, around 46°C (114°F) because they’re
used to that back home,” Anna elaborates.
Anna says that Iceland has a lot of baths
which could be classified as therapeutic ther-
mal waters according to the German defini-
tion but as a certification system is yet to be
established in Iceland, they can’t be officially
labeled as such. “We’re not currently calling
them ‘therapeutic’ as they have to be tested
and certified in order to ensure that the stan-
dard is the same as elsewhere.”
Most hot springs or baths in Iceland, says
Anna, are used to enhance wellbeing (focus-
ing on prevention rather than cure) with
some, such as the Blue Lagoon, treating
medical illnesses such as psoriasis, and the
NLFÍ Spa and Medical Clinic in Hveragerði
which specializes in rehabilitation as well as
treatments for rheumatism and stress. Most
of the waters which would classify as healing
are natural hot springs in the countryside,
according to Anna, but she also cites two
pools: the hot tubs at the Stykkishólmur
municipal swimming pool, West Iceland,
where the water comes directly from the
just three percent of water on earth is
freshwater, 69 percent of which is locked in
glaciers. iceland’s glaciers, like in other countries,
are melting at an accelerated rate.