Brilliant Water Recycling in The Netherlands
My recent trip to Amsterdam taught me two things: weather is pretty much British (if you know what i mean) and water is a valuable good. I guess that explains why drinking water is so expensive and why The Netherlands are into water recycling. The picture was taken in Naarden Bussum train station, an area 50 minutes away from Amsterdam’s center. It’s pretty much self explanatory but if you want a little help with your rusty Dutch here’s a lose translation: “on this station we catch rain water and we use it to clean the station”.
The idea is simple, effective and environmental friendly. Rain water is collected from the roof, stored in a tank and pumped back to the platform for use by the cleaning service. How brilliant is that?
It’s not that brilliant to be honest, isn’t that essentially what we all do? They just have a more optimized version. My university does this for most of the buildings on campus and has done it for years. The reason more people don’t do it is because you need the right type of structure. The filtration system required for areas that have a lot of trees and other things that may just drop stuff into the water isn’t cheap. Nevertheless, using rain water for toilets and other purposes makes sense, but you’re also taking that water away from the land around you. It may not be much, but if every roof in New York City did this, some plants would inevitably die.
That’s great that it’s so widespread where you are Luke. I wish this type of simple yet very intelligent architectural planning were more common everywhere!
everywhere i have been, water pours unrestrained into the streets and out to the great sewers yonder, while human flush their remains with treated water.
they wash their cars, their dogs and the driveway with gallons of potable chemically enhanced liquid, mmm!
meanwhile i collect rain water in buckets and treat my garden and chickens to purity. ahh!
if water was as expensive in the US as it is in France?..
I wonder how the water is pumped to the surface. It would make a lot more sense for it to be hand-pumped because it would save some energy, but that’s just a thought. =)
An excellent concept, problems arise in trying to keep the water clean and not green. Filtration would help but that adds maintenance The mention about pumping is somwhat valid as it does require a small amount of power assuming that the pressure won’t drive the water up and out. A small solar collector could handle that issue. What happens during dry spells? No water no wash. That would certainly bring further environmental awareness. I applaud the thought and the commitment to small moves that when added up, have a large impact.
[...] 12. The Netherlands see water as a creative way to use their subway systems. Subway stations around Amsterdam act as water catchment devices as well as transportation centers. [...]