AkzoNobel Salt in Delfzijl produces salt that is extracted from underground salt layers near Veendam and Winschoten. By pumping process water into the salt layer, the salt dissolves. The brine that is formed is then pumped to the salt factory in Delfzijl. Until the middle of the 1990s, the water that was required for the production was extracted from groundwater and then processed.
Environmental awareness in combination with an anticipated increase in water demand encouraged AkzoNobel to look for alternative options.

They approached North Water - the result is not just an alternative to water extraction and processing water into oxygen-free water, but the construction of a water plant that was fully in accordance with the DBFO concept. This means that management and maintenance are also carried out by North Water. This makes the water factory for AkzoNobel probably the first industrial water plant in the Netherlands that was built in accordance with the DBFO concept.