Today, December 7, 2020, the kick-off meeting of the project “Watercircle 't hof Bellewaerde” took place. Virtually of course in this corona time. On the agenda were the first agreements regarding the implementation and monitoring of this circular water project, in which waste water from a nature campsite is treated in a Phytoparking and reused afterwards for flushing the toilets. An extension to the reprocessing of waste water into drinking water will also be investigated!
Camping 't Hof Bellewaerde (near Ypres) is located on an archaeological site of World War I, where craters scar the landscape from long battles. Recourse to traditional utilities for gas, electricity and water is out of the question here, because the soil here is heritage.
Rietland came up with a solution to reuse the wastewater. The water for the toilets and the communal sanitary block is purified by a Phytoparking. This is an aerated reed bed that is placed under one or more parking spaces. The purified waste water is then reused for flushing toilets. This ecological approach ensures that the impact on the underground of the historic site is minimal.
It is planned that all preparations for construction will be made in the coming months and that the project will be completed in the spring of 2021, so that the campsite can open in the first week of April. Ghent University students take water samples at various times in 2021, with which they monitor the quality. We would like to thank all our partners (Cofrax, UGent, Vlakwa, Vlario, 't hof Bellewaerde) for their expertise and enthusiasm.
