About
Nothing hidden.
We started VATTEN because Stockholm tap water is genuinely exceptional — and because no one was willing to put the full truth on a bottle.
The water that comes from Stockholm's taps travels from Lake Mälaren through Norsborg treatment plant — one of Europe's most sophisticated water facilities. It is tested daily for over 200 parameters. It meets every EU drinking water standard, most by an order of magnitude.
It also contains trace levels of compounds that no water quality regulation currently limits: the metabolite of ibuprofen someone took this morning, a nanogram of cocaine that survived treatment, the residue of birth control pills prescribed a decade ago. These concentrations are pharmacologically irrelevant. But they're real.
We bottle this water and print everything on the label. In Space Mono, at 7pt, all 68 tested compounds and their measured values. Below it, in IM Fell English, the name VATTEN — Swedish for water, and the same word Stockholm's founders would have used in 1252.
The bottle is designed around one constraint: it should take no more space than a Tetra Pak. Square base, tall profile, glass. It stacks efficiently in a fridge, ships well, and can be reused indefinitely.
Two sizes. 250ml for the workday. 1L for the table. Both carry the same engraving — the same analysis, the same batch number traceable to the specific production day.
We are not claiming our water is purer than the mountain spring on the shelf next to us. We're claiming it's tested more thoroughly. The difference is that we print what we find.
Stockholm & water — Timeline
1252
Birger jarl founds Stockholm on the island of Stadsholmen. The city is built around Lake Mälaren, the freshwater source that feeds it still.
1861
Stockholm's first municipal waterworks opens. Clean water becomes a public right, not a privilege.
1963
Norsborg water treatment plant opens, processing water from Lake Mälaren for the greater Stockholm area.
2010
Stockholm University begins systematic drug metabolite monitoring in wastewater. The city learns what passes through its water cycle.
2023
EU Drinking Water Directive 2020/2184 fully transposed. Stockholm leads compliance before the deadline.
2025
VATTEN is founded. We put everything on the label.