TKI Loop-closure Cleantech Playground. Local water and energy solutions

De Ceuvel in Amsterdam North is a former industrial plot that has been turned into a sustainable urban development. The heavily polluted site features retrofitted houseboats as offices, placed on land, surrounded by soil-cleaning plants. Because of the temporary character of the site (it is rented for 10 years) and the polluted soil, the houseboats are not connected to the sewer system. Instead they are provided with dry composting toilets and individual biofilters for grey water treatment. The boats still use conventional delivered drinking water. The primary goal of this pilot project, Cleantech Playground De Ceuvel, is to achieve local loop-closure of cycles in the city by applying innovative concepts and technological solutions. The performances of the water-related technology in particular, are monitored in this TKI project and evaluated in order to show the applicability in a sustainable circular economy. Self-sufficient neighbourhoods with their own, decentralised water supply add to the image of the circular economy. Local production of drinking water is evaluated by Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment (QMRA) and financial aspects. The individual grey water treatment plants, consisting of a settling module and biofilter module, as well as some other achievements of technology, like the applied composting toilets and urine treatment are monitored. Beside assessment of technology performance and development of new solutions for metropolitan areas, human aspects and interactions between users and clean technologies are also studied, to understand how communities can adapt to new systems and changes.