DE TWENTSE GOLF
Having access to water feels like something we take for granted. It literally falls from the sky. It flows through the Dinkel and the Twente Canal. And out of the taps in all our homes. But did you know that in Twente we consume a total of around 112.5 million cubic meters of water per year? That is a lot of water for our sandy soils to retain. And that is precisely something that sandy soils struggle to do. This, combined with rapid drainage via streams and rivers and increasing weather conditions, presents a collective challenge. Drought has become a noticeable and urgent problem. Not only for agriculture and nature, but also for businesses and possibly even households in the future. That is why De Twentse Golf was introduced. A movement of innovative thinkers who are committed to the future of water in Twente.
“We are a unique community that brings together everyone involved in water in Twente, either professionally or commercially, and combines our strengths,” says project leader Stefan Nijwening of Waterschap Vechtstromen, one of the initiators alongside Susan Ladrak of Koninklijke Grolsch and Jan Gooijer of Vitens. “To support and help each other with innovations and projects related to water, we are raising water awareness. By investing together in new technologies, approaches, and solutions.”
A concrete example is BluElephant, a small, flexible wastewater treatment plant. Thanks to close collaboration between Jotem Water Solutions, the Vechtstromen Water Authority, Saxion University of Applied Sciences, the Royal Netherlands Army, and Wereld Waternet, the project grew from concept to initial prototype. It is currently on the market, and this elephant was proudly displayed at the Zwarte Cross festival last summer.
The community currently consists of more than 400 very diverse members from 85 different sectors. These include not only parties already known in water management, but also data and tech companies, to name a few. Solving the water shortage in Twente together is the ambition of the Twentse Golf. “Over the past year, we have mainly invested in telling our story, sharing knowledge, and building the community,” says Stefan. “Over the next two years, we will be breaking ground. We will do this primarily through workshops and testing grounds where we develop and try out new approaches and techniques.”
There are now three workshops within the community:
Workshop 1: Insight into our water
“In this workshop, we improve our understanding of water availability in Twente.” Where are there still opportunities to make better use of water? This concerns groundwater, surface water, rainwater, sewage water, and drinking water. “Once we have this insight, we can then also determine the impact of the measures taken on the water shortage.”
Workshop 2: Water retention and storage
In this workshop, innovative measures and solutions are collected, developed, and implemented to better retain and store the available water in Twente. This includes water retention and storage in industrial estates, for example.
Workshop 3: Saving and reusing water
This workshop develops and implements measures and solutions to use the available water in Twente more efficiently. “We want to inspire companies and offer solutions for reducing their water consumption, and we are also investigating possibilities for reusing water locally.”
“These workshops are actually three important solutions for tackling and resolving the water shortage in Twente,” says Stefan. "But it's not set in stone, and what's more, the various goals are interrelated, because many different measures are needed to resolve the water shortage. And that's precisely why we meet with the entire community several times a year. To share knowledge and experiences, to help and inspire each other, and to discuss whether we are still doing the right things," concludes Stefan.
Make the wave grow
Do you have refreshing ideas about how we can tackle water scarcity in Twente? Would you like to contribute to realizing our ambitions?
Then please contact:
Stefan Nijwening
T: 06 - 39 29 18 83
M: s.nijwening@vechtstromen.nl
Learn more about the Twentse Golf
Gross Twents Happiness
Which indicators does the Twentse Golf project contribute to?
✓ Safety
✓ Health
✓ Environment
✓ Social contacts
✓ Community engagement
✓ Subjective well-being