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Waterbedrijf Groningen has five production locations and supplies 44 billion litres of freshwater to over 575,000 private and business customers. The company also produces industrial water through the joint venture North Water and, together with WMD, formerly Waterleidingmaatschappij Drenthe, owns WLN, formerly Waterlaboratorium Noord. Waterbedrijf Groningen also has various heat projects. Riksta Zwart has been managing director since 2014. Ronald Wielinga of WaterCampus Leeuwarden interviewed her.
‘innovation is essential’ RIKSTA, YOU HAVE BEEN MANAGING DIRECTOR OF WATERBEDRIJF GRONINGEN FOR OVER SIX YEARS NOW. WHAT HAVE BEEN THE MOST IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENTS AT WATERBEDRIJF GRONINGEN DURING YOUR TENURE AS MANAGING DIRECTOR, BOTH WITHIN THE COMPANY AND IN YOUR ENVIRONMENT?
One critical development in recent years is that we have brought the outside world in. We now have a much better understanding of what is going on around us. We work closely with important stakeholders, such as the Hunze en Aa and Noorderzijlvest water boards. In addition to the urgency of the energy transition, we also see increased attention to the need for a water transition. The sufficient availability of high-quality drinking water is under pressure. Our society uses increasing
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amounts of water—partly due to economic growth and partly due to increasingly dry and hot summers as a result of climate change. As a water company, we have developed a roadmap with regional parties. The main goal is to secure the drinking water supply in Groningen sustainably and actively contribute to a province where water production, nature, agriculture, economic developments and quality of life reinforce each other. WHAT ARE THE BIGGEST BARRIERS CURRENTLY DELAYING THE ACHIEVEMENT OF YOUR OBJECTIVES?
We need to invest heavily in our infrastructure in the coming years—things like replacing pipelines and renovating production installations. We also feel a social responsibility to invest in making our business operations more sustainable. Also, as I indicated before,
we are in a water transition. Social changes take a lot of time. Raising awareness and reducing water consumption are long-term processes that must be implemented with conviction before a water company can lay claim to scarce new resources. With the water transition, we are aiming to complete all steps simultaneously. WHAT ROLE DOES INNOVATION PLAY IN SOLVING THESE CHALLENGES?
Innovation is essential. Let me give a few examples. Innovative approaches and purification techniques are essential when supplying custom water to industry, such as the use of effluent from the WWTP. Another example is reducing our CO2 footprint; one way of achieving that is the reduction of CH4 emissions from groundwater extraction. After the test phase, we are now designing the groundwater treatment
