Ambition
Griendtsveen aspires to improve the area’s water quality by natural purification. It aims to achieve this notwithstanding the pollution created by the residential recreation facility and the WildLife Park.
Business partners, cooperation, test and demo sites
Water is the common factor in two much talked-about projects.
Water quality is the basis of the Waterakkers research project, whose aim is to achieve ‘naturally clear water’ in the leisure area (in particular WildLife Park Europe). It will be necessary to include all the water sources that are polluted in various ways in order to arrive at the correct starting points and conditions for the development plan.
Griendtsveen’s ambition – despite the realisation of a large recreational area – is to ensure that the quality of the outgoing water is higher than the quality of the incoming water. In the leisure industry, this is a ground-breaking notion.
The actual research is being project managed and performed by WLN (the water quality centre of the Water Supply Company Groningen and WMD), with the support of the Water Supply Company Drenthe (WMD). It is likely that in the near future the Velt & Vecht Water Board will come on board and share its expertise. In the background, more and more institutes are doing their bit to help, including the UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education in Delft.
Water quantity is a key aspect of the cooperation with the water board. The aim is to conceive a design for the leisure area in the Amsterdamsche Veld such that a natural, non-destructive system of water retention can be developed. One that will be capable of preventing large-scale flooding in the event of heavy rainfall. A starting point for this design arose from the gigantic water damage suffered in 1998 by the nearby area of horticulture under glass.
Throughout the entire area, the natural water levels will be restored as closely as possible. This will have a positive effect on nature and will serve to protect against drought in and around the area.
