Around 30,000 tourists visit the island off the coast of Tallinn annually, which creates considerable strain on the island's infrastructure.

In a letter sent to the Ministry of Regional and Rural Affairs, it was stated that during the tourism season, household septic tanks on the island fill up quickly, and the removal of wastewater is insufficient due to the ferry's limitations.

Viimsi Deputy Mayor Alar Mik wrote that outdated methods are still widely used for managing wastewater, which poses environmental risks. He said untreated wastewater might be seeping into the soil, and since groundwater is extracted from depths of 10 to 11 meters, the island's surface water is particularly vulnerable. Test drillings have revealed varying levels of bacterial contamination in the water.

Mik also highlighted concerns about the rapid depletion of water resources during the peak tourism season. While technical solutions could address these issues, he pointed out that maintaining such systems would be costly, given the island's small permanent population of only a few dozen residents during winter.

The official said building a desalination plant to extract and purify seawater would cost approximately €1 million. Developing a communal sewage and water pipeline system could require an additional €1 million.

These costs make large-scale solutions challenging to justify, given the seasonal nature of the problems and the island's small year-round population.

Additionally, the high volume of traffic on local roads is causing significant wear and tear, it was stated in the appeal to the ministry. The added expense of repairing these roads is compounded by the reliance on maritime transport.

One solution put forward by the council is reducing the number of tourists by raising the price of ferry tickets.

Mik clarified that the municipality does not intend to drastically reduce the number of tourists but wants to prevent a significant increase in visitors.

The municipality has asked the ministry to clarify how strictly the law limits ticket price increases. Under current legislation, the price difference between tickets for permanent residents and tourists can be up to 50 percent.

"Our question was whether the difference can be larger, as we have observed other practices in Estonia," Mik explained.

Annika Prangli, CEO of the tourism company Prangli Reisid, said water issues and road maintenance are challenges on the island. However, she noted the number of tourists cannot increase significantly, as the ferry's capacity remains unchanged.

"These arguments have been relevant for years, but the number of tourists has not increased because the ferry is still the same size. The number of visitors is limited to the seats available on the ferry," she said.

Prangli also pointed out that the ferry Wrangö, which services the island, can accommodate only one car at a time. She expressed support for the idea of raising car ticket prices for tourists, stating that it would be fairer for locals to have better access to this limited car space.

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