PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
As a result of climate change, water stress is an emerging problem - even in traditionally “wet” countries such as the Netherlands, which are predicted to suffer from droughts - especially in summer. The problem is expected to get worse due to the changing climate, having a negative impact on the quality and quantity of sources for drinking water - so European drinking water companies are being urged to take measures to guarantee the availability of drinking water – as is the case for PWN, the drinking water company for the Province of Noord-Holland.
PWN’s main water source is Lake Ijsselmeer - from which it gets 75% of its drinking water - servicing 1.7 million people, expected to increase to 2.0 million over the next two to three decades. The water availability and quality varied greatly according to the season and – more recently - due to climate change. This places extreme stress on PWN’s water source and as a result, serious investment is required to safeguard the uninterrupted availability of drinking water in the area. However, conventional state-of-the-art drinking water production methods to address the challenges posed by climate change have a high environmental impact and CO2 footprint - a situation faced by many Dutch and European water utilities.
In addition, Lake Ijsselmeer is an important Natura 2000 area, protected under the EU Bird and Habitat Directives. However, the lake currently lacks natural transition zones between land and water, salt and fresh water, and deep and shallow waters. The current absence of characteristic littoral zone habitats between the coast and deep water not only limits the food supply for flora and fauna, it also offers insufficient natural water purification and is unable to deal with the challenges caused by climate change.
OBJECTIVES
The main objective of LIFE WATERSOURCE is to demonstrate large-scale, nature-based drinking water production adapted to climate change. Specifically, the aims are to:
1. Demonstrate a nature-based solution (NbS) to water stress and salinisation, securing drinking water production.
2. Demonstrate sustainable improvement in the drinking water production and treatment process.
3. Demonstrate improvements in the ecological quality of Lake Ijsselmeer.
4. Promote nature-based management of drinking water resources.
LIFE WATERSOURCE is a stepping stone towards the full-scale implementation of a 250 ha purifying ecotope and climate reservoir, to be realised over the next 10 years.
RESULTS
The project will demonstrate large-scale nature-based drinking water production adapted to climate change induced water stress, which also produces co-benefits for a Natura 2000 site (Lake Ijsselmeer) in the Netherlands. The project will catalyse the large-scale deployment of the solution via a dedicated replication action. There will also be a climate mitigation contribution for carbon capture and savings on chemical pre-treatment. Concrete results of the project will be:
· A 1 ha natural purifying ecotope (increasing to 150 ha within five years of the project end), including shallow zones and a fish passage, providing essential habitats (‘littoral zone’) for fish and birds, with a natural water level during the project life-time.
· Increased fish and bird diversity on Lake Ijselmeer by seven species during the project lifetime and 17 species within five years of the project end.
· Reduced greenhouse has (GHG) emissions in drinking water production due to the reduced use of chemicals (three tonnes in the course of the demonstration project and 1700 tonnes within five years of the project end.
· CO2 fixation (carbon capture) by reed marsh to be established. Within the demonstration project, a total of 0.3 ha reed marsh will lead to the sequestration of 2.2 tonnes of CO2 per year. Full-scale implementation will result in around 50 ha of reed marsh, resulting in 370 tonnes of CO2 sequestration per year.
· Reduced energy use for water treatment (0.0005 GWh per year during the demonstration phase, increasing to 1 GwH within five years of the project end.
· The ecotopes and the climate reservoir created in the project form a ‘lake barrier’ to prevent flooding. Whilst within the demonstration project, this will have limited impact, but within five years of the project end, full-scale implementation is expected to make a total of 4.1 km2 less vulnerable.
· Based on the number of inhabitants receiving drinking water from Lake IJsselmeer it is estimated that 1.2 million people are currently vulnerable to the impact of salinisation as a result of climate change. Whilst this number will not yet be reduced by the demonstration project, full-scale implementation (after the project implementation) will secure their drinking water supply and hence make them less vulnerable.
NB Barcelona supplies drinking water to approximately three million people who will be less vulnerable to the effects of climate change when the project is replicated there after project end.
