Delta Life 10

DELTARES IN BRIEF BELOW THE SURFACE IN NEWORLEANS Most of New Orleans is already below sea level and the city is subsiding by an annual average of six to eight milli­ metres. Major investments are being made in New Orleans to tackle the current problems with water and land subsidence. In an alliance with The Water Institute of the Gulf (TWIG) and local partners, Deltares will be studying the subsur- face of the area over the next eighteen months. The aim is to ensure that rainwater, surface water, groundwater and land subsidence in the urban area can be managed in coordinated ways. By intensively involving stakeholders - including local residents - the project will also help to raise awareness of the importance of the subsurface for a low-lying delta city. The European E-USE(aq) project was launched to further aquifer thermal energy storage (ATES) technology throughout Europe: the installation of 50,000 European systems could save 3 million tons of carbon emissions. The Netherlands is well on track with ATES but many other European coun- tries still have to overcome a number of obstacles. The E-USE(aq) project, a joint venture involving Deltares and nine international organisations, aims to demonstrate that Italy, Spain, Denmark and Belgium are also suitable countries for the introduc- tion of ATES. So far, the pilot projects have demonstrated that ATES is an economically interesting solution for renewable energy (investments can be recouped within three years in some cases), that socio-economic and legislative barriers can be man- aged and that effective innovations are possible, such as combining the technology with solar panels and with groundwater remediation. The Hoogheemraadschap van Rijnland water authority has a new, automated control system that works with weather fore- casts, water quality and energy costs. It helps the managers of the Rijnland belt canal system to keep the water level as con- stant as possible to within a margin of three centimetres. Given the variations in rainfall and wind, that is quite a challenge. The new operating system provides a better picture of the variables and therefore improves decision-making. The system now also includes the salinisation of the system and initiates flushing operations if necessary. It also allows the management authority to cut electricity bills by factoring in the tides and energy costs (peak and off-peak rates). For example, at low tide, it costs less energy to pump water from the polder to the sea than at high tide, when pumping operations have to cope with the resistance of the high water. BETTER WATER MANAGEMENT THANKS TO AUTOMATED SYSTEM USING THE EUROPEAN SUBSURFACE FOTO: ADOBESTOCK 28 DELTARES, September 2018