The intention of the province of Noord Holland is to develop a demonstration project pertaining to the Geestmerambacht recreational area and nature reserve. The Geestmerambacht, which is located about 10 km from the coast of the Province of Noord-Holland, is of the nature of an island within an agricultural area situated in what is referred to as the HAL region around the town of Heerhugowaard, the city Alkmaar, and the town of Langedijk. This region is currently in a process of urbanisation.
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The project is focused on integral water management. The project will provide for additional water-storage capacity within the scope of the development of recreational facilities and a nature conservation area; it will also assign a major role to the quality of the water. The creation of a substantial additional amount of space for water will virtually obviate the need to supply additional water to the region in times of water shortages, thereby ultimately resulting in an improvement of the quality of the water.
The existing water system will be imparted with the resilience required to accommodate the consequences of the predicted changes in the climate, as a result of which it is expected that large amounts of rain will fall in short periods between long periods of drought. Studies have revealed that the necessary resilience cannot be achieved solely by the improvement of the technical infrastructure, in particular the pumping stations, since this use of the infrastructure would be accompanied by an excessive number of detrimental side effects.
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The investments consists of the realisation of a new recreational area “De Druppels” (the drops) for multi-functional water storage. Within the HAL plan it is foreseen that “het Meer” (the lake) Geesterambacht will be disconnected from the main water system, in order to avoid the inflow of nutrient rich water. The nutrient rich water causes cyano-bacteria to grow, having a negative impact on the recreational use of the lake. This disconnection must be compensated for the water storage function of the lake. The disconnection of the lake will result in a drop of the surface water table with about one meter, causing the need of a complete renovation of the embankments of the lake.
The compensation of the water storage function of the lake will be created in combination with the development of a 75 ha of new recreational area and an enlargement of the percentage of open water surface. The development of the recreational area will have an innovative concept, designing it in such a way that temporarily storage of water is possible in periods of extensive rainfall and superfluous water. The design of the area will guarantee the recreational use, even if the water storage is filled with 1 or 2 meter water. In order to improve biodiversity, the vegetation will be adapted to water the storage function of the area. Planning and development of the area will be managed by an temporary board of all stakeholders involved, including the municipalities, the recreation board and the water board.
Deliverables:
The deliverables of the project are the renovation of the embankments and adjacent recreational area of The Lake and a water storage area of 75 ha that is suitable for recreational use (pedestrians and cyclists).
