HOFOR handles rainwater and wastewater in eight municipalities in the Greater Copenhagen area. We manage more than 2,300 km of sewers and 250 pumping stations, all of which are monitored electronically (SRO).
In 2013, we began to produce biogas from organic matter in the wastewater at the treatment plants of BIOFOS, the greater Copenhagen wastewater company partially owned by HOFOR. HOFOR upgrades the biogas for the town gas network in Copenhagen and Frederiksberg. We mix the town gas with approximately 20% biogas.
Cloudburst Management Plan
Climate change has led to Copenhagen being hit by torrential rain more frequently. As a result of a particularly bad cloudburst in 2011 – a so-called 1,000-year rainfall event – the City of Copenhagen and HOFOR agreed on a DKK 20 billion Cloudburst Management Plan with a 20-year timeframe to make Greater Copenhagen more resilient to cloudbursts in particular and heavier rainfall in general.
The plan revolves around no fewer than 300 projects of varying size and complexity, ranging from simply knocking holes in the wharves to allow rainwater to run unhindered into the city’s canals, to excavating four giant, metro-sized storm-water tunnels under the city.
Blue and green spaces
Surface solutions focus on creating ‘blue and green spaces’ that integrate water in the urban space and create green corridors that increase biodiversity and also combat urban heat island effects.
Water retention parks have been completed at Sankt Kjelds Kvarter, Sankt Annæ Plads and Valbyparken, with many more on their way, as existing parks are being reshaped to receive large volumes of water during cloudbursts without preventing the everyday use of the parks or diminishing their recreational value.
Learn more
See fact sheet about our climate resilience programme
