Gunnar Svavarsson, an engineer at the company Línuhönnun, which has investigated the condition of plumbing in Reykjavík since 1996, said the plumbing in the capital’s oldest neighborhoods, which has not been renewed, could soon become a health problem.
“The condition of the plumbing in houses built 50 years ago or earlier is extremely poor. They are becoming a health problem because they are so corroded and punctured that rats could follow them all the way up to the foundation of the buildings,” Svavarsson told 24 stundir.
“The condition is worst in the old part of Vesturbaer, Thingholt, Teigar and Sund in that order,” Svavarson said. “The older the neighborhood, the worse the condition.”
Since 1996 Reykjavík City has made an effort to investigate the situation of the sewage system in Reykjavík and Línuhönnun has been responsible for photographing plumbing around the city.
But the condition of plumbing leading from private houses and companies has not been investigated because the owners are responsible for doing so. Svavarson said he can therefore only assume how severe the condition of the oldest plumbing has become.
