The Dutch and water: a stormy relationship. The water has brought trade and prosperity as well as frequent disasters, floods and inconvenience. It is essential to mobility, agriculture, industry, in short: one of the most important, if not the most important, commodities of society. For centuries, the Dutch have considered having good, useful water in all but limitless quantities as a matter-of-fact. We changed our minds over the last couple of decades, however. The concept of water management, which Dutch Crown Prince Willem Alexander also works hard to promote, emerged. One of the consequences of this new approach to dealing with water is that the focus now lies on the environment, sustainability, reusing wastewater and continuously developing industrial applications of water.
North Water, a commercial joint venture of Waterbedrijf Groningen and Evides, is one of the pioneers in the field of water treatment and wastewater purification for companies and industrial complexes. We spoke with Managing Director Piet de Boks about North Water’s ambitions. “North Water has been involved in a significant number of projects ever since its foundation, some five years ago. We have dedicated and expanded a lot of expertise over time. You might describe our specialty as the aim to achieve, as much as possible, a total, integral chain approach to water.”
Read the whole story in
'The Top of Holland', a reference book that will give you an impression of the Northern Netherlands - the provinces of Groningen, Friesland en Drenthe.