Tauw and several partners from the Netherlands and Flanders are working on the so-called RESANAT (Remediation of residual contamination by using nature-based techniques) project, which aims to advance the redevelopment of contaminated sites in the Netherlands and Flanders. The project is managed by OVAM (Flemish Public Waste Authority). This challenging project incorporates innovative and sustainable soil & groundwater remediation techniques and is subsidised by Interreg Flanders-Netherlands. The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate also contributes as a co-financer.
Conventional remediation and management techniques are either too costly to be applied in certain situations of soil contamination, consume too much energy and too many materials or require too much ground water. RESANAT applies nature-based remediation techniques, in which plants, micro-organisms, natural materials and processes as well as solar energy are used to control residual pollution. Thanks to these innovative techniques, thousands of sites in the Netherlands and Flanders that are still contaminated with (residual) pollution will in time be made suitable again for sustainable use. This in turn will relieve the burden on the available public space.
One of the three pillars on which the project rests is the application of the Natural Catch. This is a remediation technique developed by Tauw in which reactive mats (consisting of geotextile and a natural adsorbent to which contaminated particles adsorb) are used to prevent the outflow of groundwater pollution into the surface water. The natural groundwater flow towards a draining surface water body is used as the driving force. The Natural Catch will be further developed and implemented on full scale by Tauw in collaboration with Envisan (Jan de Nul), iFlux, OVAM, TTE and EnISSA (Witteveen+Bos).
More information about this project (website OVAM) >>
Ask our experts
