Dinteloord, the Netherlands, is a 3 km2 greenhouse horticulture area under development, with a predicted high water demand which cannot be fully supplied by precipitation in dry years. To meet the water demands, treated wastewater from a nearby sugar factory (sugar beets) is to be stored in a shallow brackish sandy (unconsolidated) aquifer, and recovered in dry years for irrigation.
A pilot cycle including injection, storage, and recovery started in Autumn 2014, financed by the Dutch Topsector Water. The Dinteloord ASR-Coastal replication site was further expanded. After realizing a second ASR-well in October 2016, a third and fourth ASR well were realized in April 2017. All four ASR wells were connected to the ASR infrastructure and put into operation since early September. Since then, high-quality irrigation water is produced from the effluent of the nearby sugar factory using a combination of UF and RO and infiltrated in a local sand aquifer.
In 2016/2017, a total of 25,000 m3 was stored and recovered. With the current infiltration rate of 960 m3/d, it is aimed to store almost 150,000 m3 by the end of January. This is when the sugar factory stops its production and effluent is not available for irrigation water production anymore.
Based on a recently updated water balance, this should be enough to supply water users in the event of an extreme dry spell in 2018. To meet the demands after 2018, the ASR capacity will be doubled in the coming year. In the last year of the Subsol project, the performance of this expanded ASR scheme is monitored.