Failed Tavase project leaves municipalities with losses and buried pipes

The bankrupt Tavase groundwater project has left hundreds of research pipes and several wells on private and parish-owned land in Pirkanmaa, Yle reports. It is unclear who is responsible for removing them.

The Supreme Administrative Court rejected the project’s permit application in March 2024, bringing the plan to an end. Tavase had promised to remove the structures and fully restore the land if the permit was denied.

Instead, the company removed only the above-ground parts of the structures, amounting to a few per cent of the total. Pipes were left in places where landowners had demanded that structures below the surface also be removed.

In a wooded area on the slopes of Syrjänharju in Pälkäne, metal ends of research pipes protrude from the ground. The site also contains several wells and excavation waste. Some of the pipes extend as far as 60 metres underground.

Pälkäne Parish and private landowners are pursuing legal action against the company. The parish has a pending appeal to the Supreme Administrative Court over who must remove the structures.

“We have an appeal in preparation concerning who will remove these from here, or whether they will remain in the forest,” said Jari Kemppainen, the parish’s vicar, while standing beside one of the abandoned wells.

The parish says it did not originally grant permission for the research on its land. The structures were nevertheless installed after the then Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment granted permission.

Pälkäne Parish considers the area valuable, has designated it as a nature reserve and is committed to the church’s environmental programme and forest management. Kemppainen said the visible remains of the project were therefore especially distressing.

Tavase was established in 2002 by the municipalities of Akaa, Kangasala, Lempäälä, Tampere, Valkeakoski and Vesilahti. It spent more than 10 million euros on the project, most of it borrowed money.

The plan was to produce artificial groundwater by infiltrating water into the ridges of Kangasala and Pälkäne, securing water supplies during exceptional circumstances. Between 1994 and 2014, the company built 168 monitoring pipes and seven wells in the two areas.

Compensation paid to landowners in Pälkäne has been negligible compared with the harm caused by the project. Tavase has not paid compensation for research and rights of use carried out since 2008, and it had deposited only 21,000 euros in security to cover damage caused by the research.

The company went bankrupt this spring, leaving no clear owner or responsible party for the structures. Yle was unable to reach Tavase’s administrator.