Partners

Take a look around on the website of GroeneBouwmaterialen.nl, a group of people who have sustainability in construction as a guiding motive. They have a lot of knowledge in-house and if you are considering to (re) build and you can use some advice on what is the healthiest to use and you want a good price for all the stuff you need: this is the address !

We have a nice relationship with the IHE (in Delft, NL) for many years. It is the international water university where many students from third world countries can study. This Institute of Water Education was founded in 1957. In 2007, some of our projects were the subject of the thesis of a Nepalese student. All parties liked that enough to continue. Later on, one of their students graduated to PhD with one of our projects. 

I read on a sign in their beautiful building, "What if the ecologists didn't build ecologically themselves, then who should give an example?" The fantastic accommodation of NIOO in Wageningen is such an impressive building! And indeed an inspiring example ofsustainability! With of course a wetland by ECOFYT!

With Grontmij, we were part of the think tank for Waterschap de Dommel for the Peelrijt project: how to make water from an agricultural area good enough to end in a very sensitive natura 2000 area (the Strabrechtse heide). The water board was thinking of 25 hectares of wetlands and an equally large retention area. The job was described as: “Given the current fragmented ownership, this is 'advanced puzzling' with pieces of land, functionality of the compartments, drains, etc.”. And we love that!

Sweco (the new name for Grontmij) received a very challenging assignment from the German bank for development cooperation KfW (Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau): “We have selected 10 hotspots where investments in Africa are urgently required in the field of water. Make a feasibility study for us to see which three projects we need to tackle first. ” Sweco engaged consultants from Waste, among others, because of their expertise in this field and Waste said in turn: “When it comes to Constructed Wetlands, ECOFYT must be part of our team”. And so we ended up in Uganda… And a few years later in Rwanda….

The Municipality of Breda issued a very extensive plan called Waterakkers. Lots of open water in a new residential area. And as it should be: ambitions were high. Because the plans also include helophyte filters, Arcadis asked us to take a critical look at the specifications and at the same time freely improvise about what had already been written. The tender revealed that Arcadis scored the most points of all tenderers, in addition to a good contract price. ECOFYT subsequently laid the foundations for the QR route and the explanation to its users, among other things.

Of course it cannot be missed if you are so busy with water (and yes, also plants) that you will encounter 'Wageningers' again and again. We have collaborated on many projects, from Egypt (with the CDI; Center for Development Innovation that deals with Fisheries Management and Aquaculture) and Ethiopia (with Alterra) or the WUR business center (to co-teach the course 'Green Water Purification') .

Thanks to membership in the International Water Association, the contacts we have become so global. We love to attend the biennial conferences, which take us to various corners of the world. Scientists and fellow engineers tell each other about all the new things they are working on, what they have discovered, etc. Another nice thing: Frank van Dien is also part of the 'IWA Specialist Group on Use of Macrophytes in Water Pollution Control' and for the newsletters he has been doing interviews for years with the leaders of this specific 'corner of the  world'.

The Foundation for Applied Water Management Research (STOWA) is the knowledge center of regional water managers in the Netherlands. STOWA develops, gathers and disseminates the knowledge required to properly carry out the tasks faced by water managers. STOWA has a keen eye for these developments and together with its members and partners they define current themes that water managers often have to work on. They bring together the knowledge required for this in specific projects ('themes'). And ECOFYT is sometimes involved because of our specialism. One of the products is the Saniwijzer.nl, in which you will of course also find ECOFYT projects.

With Ballast Nedam we built the Constructed Wetlands of the Nelson Mandelapark (formerly Bijlmerpark) in Amsterdam. During the planning process of the Bijlmerpark design, geohydrological research showed that the new pond to be excavated at this location would greatly contribute to the proper drainage of projected sports fields. The isolated location of it called for additional demands on the design and management of the pond. In addition, the water surface must have a storage function in order to be included in the water system of the Bijlmerpark. To achieve a sustainable design, ECOFYT was asked to design the pond in such a way that it is self-purifying and has a storage function. To accompany this design, a project group has been set up consisting of members of the Amsterdam Southeast District, the implementing party, and Waternet, the future manager of the pond.

In Amsterdam we also built Constructed Wetlands in a number of other parks: In the Sarphatipark you will find a wetland system that treats all the pond water. Near Oostoever there is a system (in the residential area, using one huge silo from the former sewage water purification that once stood here) that treats the run off water from the district, before it enters the surface water. And then we built a filter in the Baanakkerpark, which treats seepage water before it ends up in the surface water. Each system had its own peculiarities and they are therefore nothing alike: customisation, that's where we are good at!

The youngest partner we work with is TinyStee. A company that specializes in Tiny Houses. Together we developed mobile water treatment on a small scale. Mobile, because a fairly large part of the Tiny house owners do not assume that their house will always remain in the same place. Then of course you don't want a helophyte filter that you have to leave behind, then you want to be able to take it with you! We are not yet fully developed: both parties like to continue to play solution-oriented, at the moment we have: the Tiny Wetland duo IBC and the Tiny Wetland trio IBC And we are in the process of measuring its purification capacity.