Denmark is set to radically overhaul its drinking water policy as part of a raft of sweeping reforms to the country’s livestock industry.

In a nation with more pigs per capita than anywhere else in the world, animal welfare and nitrates pollution dominated public debate as millions headed to the polls in March for what was widely dubbed the “pig election”.

After months of coalition talks, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s newly formed government last week committed to scrapping its agriculture ministry, imposing a temporary ban on intensive pig farming, and giving communities the power to block new pig farms.

Water is also high on the agenda: the new government has pledged to slash legal limits on nitrate concentrations in drinking water by nearly 90 percent, a first in the EU. Scientists say that cutting back these chemical compounds — caused by pollution from intensive farming — could significantly reduce the number of people experiencing bowel cancer in the country.

Experts and campaigners have celebrated the new government’s decision — arguing that the EU-wide threshold should also be cut to avoid long-term health effects.

But the new reforms – which reduce nitrate levels from the EU-mandated limit of 50mg per litre to 6mg – are already facing major backlash from pork industry lobby groups in Denmark, which have threatened to take the government to court over the changes, and are holding a “crisis” meeting next week.

Nitrates can be dangerous when excessive amounts leak into the environment from synthetic fertilisers and pig, poultry and cattle manure. They cause widespread river and coastal pollution across the EU, and contaminate the groundwaters – waters located beneath the earth’s surface in soil and rock – that supply much of its drinking water.

The EU Commission did not respond directly to questions about Denmark’s adoption of a new lower limit. A spokesperson confirmed that the EU’s threshold is revisited every five years, but declined to say when the next review would take place. The 50mg/l limit  “sets the minimum quality standard for drinking water”, they said, adding that member states were welcome to “adopt stricter quality standards than those established at EU level”.

Though still in its early days, Denmark’s new government appears to be taking a markedly different approach to the EU, which has dismantled environmental regulations for the farming sector following widespread protests in 2024. 

The European Commission announced in December that it would “review and revise” its flagship water protection law, the Water Framework Directive, which could result in more lenient standards and easier exemptions for polluting projects. The regulation requires all member states to achieve “good” water quality status by next year – a deadline none are currently set to meet.

“At a time when the European Commission is rushing through decisions to slash environmental laws, it’s encouraging to see Denmark’s rigorous approach,” Marco Contiero, EU agriculture policy director at Greenpeace told DeSmog. “I welcome not only the political determination, but also the scientific integrity and professionalism shown by the government.” 

“They are tackling the problem of agricultural pollution head on, rather than denying it exists, as the rest of the EU too often does,” he added.

“I would love to see the EU holding a serious scientific debate about [the nitrates limit] and then acting upon its results.”

‘Hopelessly out of Date’

The EU introduced its limit on nitrates in drinking water in the 1990s to prevent a condition in infants known as ‘blue baby syndrome’, which can be caused by the chemical reaction of nitrates in the blood, blocking its ability to carry oxygen. 

The 50 mg/l limit meets guidance by the World Health Organisation (WHO), and is similar to that in several other major economies, including the U.S., Australia and Canada. However, campaigners and scientists have argued that the threshold is “hopelessly out of date” and ignores recent studies on cancer and birth risk.

A 2018 study of 2.7 million Danish adults over several decades found that people with the highest long-term nitrate exposure were 16 percent more likely to develop bowel cancer than those with the lowest exposure. The report found a statistically significant increase of cancer above roughly 3.9 mg/l nitrate – well below the EU threshold. 

According to Stiig Markager, marine ecology professor at Denmark’s Aarhus university, the links between nitrates and intestinal cancer have been recognised by scientists for decades. 

“The numbers may be low, but if you’re doubling your risk, it’s important mentally,” he said. “As a young family, do you want to buy a house where every time you give your kid a glass of water it could increase their risk of bowel cancer?”

Jörg Schullehner, an associate public health professor at Aarhus University, and lead author of the 2018 study, said that while it is “not dangerous to drink water” with higher nitrates concentrations on an individual level, the potential impact across the wider population makes a compelling case for tougher limits.

“For an individual consumer, the additional risk of nitrate in drinking water is quite small. But when many consumers in Europe are exposed chronically to higher levels, cases of bowel cancer could be prevented by reducing nitrate levels. 

“It is a broader public health issue: a relatively small individual risk can still be important at the population level,” he said. 

In 2019, a study of the entire U.S. population found that between 2,300 and 12,600 cancer cases each year could be attributed to nitrates. The authors also linked nitrate concentrations to low birth weights and pre-term birth.

The economic case for denitrifying drinking water is also compelling. A 2023 study by Danish scientists, which estimated that around 127 bowel cancer cases a year in Denmark could be attributed to current nitrate levels in drinking water, also found that direct and indirect health costs linked to bowel cancer from nitrates came to $317 million (£237 million) a year.

In contrast, reducing nitrate levels in drinking water to 4mg/l levels would cost just $15 million (£11 million), the study found.

‘Wake-up Call’

Outside of Denmark, other EU member states appear to be struggling to comply with the existing 50 mg/l threshold. France, Germany and Spain have all faced lawsuits in recent years over nitrates pollution in drinking or groundwater supplies. 

In Spain, over 257,000 people were unable to drink their tap water due to nitrate levels exceeding 50mg/litre in 2024, and bottled water was trucked into towns to meet local needs. 

David Sánchez is director at CECU, a consumer rights organisation headquartered in Madrid, Spain, which has been advocating for communities subjected to high levels of nitrates in drinking water.

So far, the subject has failed to resonate with politicians. “We are not aware of any intention or even debate about reducing the nitrate threshold in Spain,” he told DeSmog. “The scale of the problem here is huge, and I am afraid we are far from the Danish debate.”

Sanchez says this lack of engagement is linked to the dominance of the pork industry in Spain, which is worth nearly €9 billion (£7.7 billion). “The Spanish government cannot continue prioritizing the interests of the meat industry over public health and the right to water in rural areas,” he said. 

France and Germany face similar obstacles. In 2024, the European Commission took France to the European Court of Justice over illegal levels of pollution in 107 water supply zones, accusing the country of exposing the population to a “potential danger to health”. France’s National Federation of Farming Unions (FNSEA) has also come under fire for what critics say are attempts to downplay the impacts of nitrates pollution on beaches in the Northern region of Brittany.

In October, Germany’s own courts ruled that the country had failed to tackle nitrates levels in its groundwater supply, forcing it to introduce new measures. 

Reinhild Benning, from German environmental group Deutsche Umwelthilfe, said that the country’s first priority had to be controlling pollution from agriculture “so that nitrate levels in water bodies can fall at all”. 

In the long-run, though, he hopes to see the lower limits introduced. Denmark has “served as a wake-up call for European governments, showing how the electorate reacts when water, climate, and animal welfare are neglected for too long”.

German Greens MEP Jutta Paulus, who sits on the European Parliament’s environment committee, fears that the EU’s programme of rapid deregulation, as well as the efforts of influential farm lobby groups, could derail progress on the issue.

“Under the pretext of competitiveness, science and the public good are overrolled by simplification omnibuses,” she told DeSmog.

It is therefore “highly unlikely” that limit values for nitrate in drinking water would be lowered when the agricultural lobby “is pushing in the opposite direction”, she said.

“Denmark has managed to massively lower the influence of Big Agri in its national agricultural policy. If other countries and the EU as a whole would do the same, it would help farmers, consumers, and nature equally.”

Others are also celebrating a major milestone for the EU.

“Denmark’s farm lobby is in shock,” Danish marine ecology professor Stiig Markager told DeSmog.

“I think it’s fantastic that now we have finally got a government that is no longer tied to the agricultural industry. We might just have the greenest government ever.”