Delfland Circulair
Towards a strategy for closed-loop cycling and self-sufficiency
Metabolic advised the Delfland Water Board on creation of a self-sufficent, closed loop water system.
- Client: Hoogheemraadschap Delfland
- Partners: Witteveen + Bos
- Date: April 2017
In response to the increasing scarcity of raw materials, the depletion of ecosystems and increasing pressure on the freshwater supply, the Delfland Water Board wants to close cycles and work towards self-sufficiency. Delfland produces almost half of its total energy needs itself, and phosphate is recovered from sewage sludge. However, there is still no integral and overarching strategy, with which an optimal mix of cost-effective measures can be realized together with the environment.
In this project Metabolic and Witteveen and Bos worked with the Delfland Regional Water Authorities, which strives to create a closed-loop water system and aims to become more self-suffcient in terms of energy, water, and materials used for the transportation of freshwater, and the treatment of wastewater. We mapped the most important energy, water, and materials flows within the organisation of Delfland itself and the water-systems and region for which Delfland is responsible.
On the basis of this Mass Flow Analysis, and the visualisation of the most important flows, we held several workshops with the organization and its partners, helping Delfland to create the building blocks and principles behind a strategy for a circular water system, and self-sufficiency, which Delfland is working on at the moment of writing.
“We choose to develop a strategy in the planning period… to further close the cycles of water, energy and raw materials in the long term, with which Delfland will largely be able to meet its own water needs. Important links in working towards our self-sufficiency, such as greatly improving the chemical water quality and the technical development of our installations, are used in full. This enables us to facilitate and support economic and ecological functions for the future by keeping the water system healthy.”
Director of Sustainable Cities & Regions
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