Aquifer Storage and Recovery (ASR) Dinteloord to enable water reuse by greenhouse horticulture

The continuous availability of freshwater of very good and reliable quality is a precondition for modern intensive greenhouse horticulture. For Dinteloord, the Netherlands, a 260 hectares greenhouse area under development, the freshwater availability was not self-evident. Although the water needs are largely satisfied through the collection of rainwater and its storage in surface basins, serious shortages arise during drought periods.

To guarantee the supply of irrigation water at all times, an advanced sustainable freshwater supply was realized. Effluent from the neighboring sugar factory is converted into large volumes of high-quality irrigation water in 3 treatment steps: rapid sand filtration, ultra-filtration, reverse osmosis. Aquifer storage and recovery (ASR) is applied to balance the availability of this reuse water in Autumn and Winter with the demand for additional irrigation water by the local farmers in Spring and Summer.

Water Science for Impact conference, 16-18 October 2018, Wageningen, The Netherlands, https://www.wageningenwaterconference.com/