Deltalife 13

25 An alliance between Deltares and the business sector is producing innovative techniques and creating sustainable market opportunities for enterprises. Nice, healthy drinking water from the tap: it sounds like themost normal thing in the world, but it certainly isn't. Vitens, the largest drinking water company in the Netherlands, wants to respondmore flexibly to develop- ments in order tomaintain adequate and high-quality freshwater supplies in the future. 'In some areas, our drinkingwater production is under pressure, for example because of urbanisation or other planning developments, says Anne Immers, policy advisor at Vitens. Climate changemeans that Vitens is being confronted more often with water shortages in combination with in- creasing demand for water. 'Water demand is changing: we sometimes have to deliver more than we're used to,' says Immers. 'Take a nature reserve with large numbers of old oak trees. Those trees are used to a specific water table. If the level of the groundwater changes as a result of fluctuations in the amount of drinkingwater production, they can't cope. How can youmeet demand without harming the trees?' This is one of the questions that Vitens wants to answer. So it was decided to launch a three-year study to take a broader look at solutions for drinking water production. 'We have seen that, with our hydrological background, we are still thinking in terms of fixed patterns. This study is going to help us to think out of the box and design creative, flexible concepts for water production. It also includes the creation of a number of hypotheti- cal drinking water extraction sites: fromurban to rural settings. Developments in the soil and water system – such as climate change, the energy transition, and urban and other spatial developments – are being mapped for these hypothetical drinking water extraction sites for the next century. Immers: 'Deltares has in- house knowledge relating to the local area processes and their effect on, among other things, groundwater quality. For example, we are increasingly having to deal with contaminants in surface water. An example is the pharmaceuticals that may also end up in the ground­ water. Deltares provides us with insight into the conse- quences for water production so that we can decide whether the concepts designed for water production actually deliver a sustainable solution.' Designing drinking water production in different ways is a process that takesmany years. Vitens is aiming to develop a toolbox with adaptive solutions in order to respond quickly and flexibly to changes in drinking water demand and the environment. Immers: 'We want tomake progress towards resilience and flexibility so that we can serve our customers and stakeholders even better.' For more information: hilde.passier@deltares.nl Water production at itsmost creative Changing conditions such as droughts, in combinationwith increasingdemand for drinkingwater, have promptedVitens to think outside the box to find creative approaches todrinkingwater production. For today and for the generations to follow. Knowledge in operation