Reviving rivers

Abstract

Although the industrial release of pollutant substances into North West European river delta has been decreasing over the last decades, The Netherlands still has one of the worst water qualities in Europe. In this strategic regional design we aim to improve the quality, quantity and distribution of water through the concept of sustainable land use. Industrial waste, waste water and increasing demand for land are the main pressures on our river water system. Considering the future risk of flood and drought there is also a big insecurity about our water quantity. There will be a need for more space and fair use of our water system. The goal is to restore the water quality in the North West European river delta and secure a sufficient water quantity for future use, flood protection and a fair distribution of the water available. In this report research by design is used to develop a spatial vision and spatial strategy that will create spatial water justice and with that a healthy river landscape. There are three themes related to spatial water justice: water quantity, quality and distribution. To meet sufficient standards for these three themes there are three important concepts: a circular industrial water system, decontamination and room for the rivers. All of them deal with the broader concept of sustainable land use. Sustainable land use is the fair and balanced distribution of land and environmental resources. This report shows a regenerative decontamination design for the North West European river delta. It is the development of a catalog of interventions that can be used in the whole river basin. Many small changes make a big difference in an interconnected system like a river basin. Every small intervention that will help clean the water, adds to the whole system and changes the whole system into a healthy and just river landscape. Together with this catalog there is a manual where the interventions are connected to spatial qualities of a specific location. The catalog and manual have been implemented for the case of South - Holland / Rivierenland. This example shows how we assure a sufficient water quality, quantity and fair distribution of water in a long-term perspective in the North West European Delta region.