Rotterdam Ahoy
Municipality of Rotterdam and Rotterdam Ahoy realize sustainable urban water buffer
Rotterdam Ahoy|
March 22, 2022

March 22 is World Water Day. The Municipality of Rotterdam, Rotterdam Ahoy and Hago Nederland are joining forces: a start will be made on the realization of a so-called urban water buffer (UWB), a system in which rainwater is collected, retained, filtered, stored and reused. For Ahoy, it is the next step in a series of sustainability initiatives.


Drinking water is cheap but fresh water is scarce. At the same time, most rainwater, which is originally clean, goes through the sewage system to surface water or to a sewage treatment plant (WWTP). With the latter you burden an WWTP with relatively clean water, making it less profitable. Reason enough for the three parties to start this project. Paved surfaces are disconnected from the sewer and the rainwater goes to the water buffer.


How the urban water buffer works

The Gooilandsingel is being redeveloped as part of the Hart van Zuid area development. The street changes into a green city boulevard especially for pedestrians and cyclists. Under the Gooilandsingel, a so-called crate storage facility is being made. The water from the roof of the Zuidplein shopping center and the Gooilandsingel is collected here. In total, this concerns an area of 4.8 hectares. With a heavy rain shower of 50 mm, this produces 2,400 cubic meters of water. After the water has been collected in the crate shed, it is purified with plants and then stored deep in the subsoil after which it can be reused. It is expected that 20,000 cubic meters of the collected water can be reused annually, a great result!


Rotterdams WeerWoord is the initiator and main financier of the urban water buffer in Hart van Zuid. This municipal program was established together with the water boards in Rotterdam and Evides. Climate change increases the risk of nuisance and damage from heavy precipitation, heat, drought and flooding. The Rotterdam Weather Word is jointly preparing the city for a more extreme climate. The city is being made weatherproof for, with and by the people of Rotterdam.


Savings

Ahoy wants to use the water from the water buffer for window cleaning and cleaning of floors; which will be carried out by Hago, its cleaning partner. At the new Pathé cinema (completion 2024), the water will be used for toilet flushing. This saves a total of 15,000 cubic meters of drinking water every year. If the bubble is large enough, the water can even be used to flush the Zuiderpark in the summer when the water quality threatens to deteriorate.


Sustainable future

Investing in sustainability initiatives is a high priority at Ahoy. Jolanda Jansen, General Manager says: “It is great to see how we are gradually becoming more sustainable on various fronts. Naturally, the construction of our brand new Rotterdam Ahoy Convention Center offered the opportunity to do things in a smarter and more sustainable way, but we also started working company-wide, for example in the field of catering and waste processing.” All sustainability initiatives of the event accommodation are listed on www.ahoy.nl/duurzaam .

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