On Artificial Groundwater Recharge at Dune Area in the Netherlands (Part 1)

Abstract

Recently a great many researches and studies on the development of groundwater resources in foreign lands have been made in our country, but many of them are unpublished under all circumstances. Accordingly our country is behind other advanced nations in offering technicues on a high level and research data for groundwater resources.
This paper presents a method of recharging water through the physiographic effects of the dunes in the Netherlands, which is one of the most advanced nations in that field, as an excellent case of developing groundwater resources in foreign countries.
The deficiency of drinking water in Amsterdam gives an example of the unfavourable water conditions in the Netherlands, though the city is apparently rich in water resources. In order to solve this problem, the dune water recharge system, which supplies fresh water, has been developed. In the dunes the fresh water from natural precipitation gradually ousts the salt water because the gravity of the former is lower than that of the latter (Veen and Huizinga, 1976).
The dune water recharge area has an area of 36 km² and about 55, 000, 000m³of the Rhine water is percolated there annually. As the annual recharge from precipitation there is 13, 000, 000m³, the total supply of water in the area is about 68, 000, 000m³.
The dune water recharge system contains such installations as distribution pond, river water canal, recharge ponds, collection canals, filtered draining conduits, artesian wells, non-artesian wells, etc. Passing through those installations, the water goes to the indoor provision for purification. The total production of water in this plant is 62. 9 million m³ (1975). 立正大学地理学教室, Department of Geography, Rissho University , Tokyo, Japan.