The Volgermeer polder in Amsterdam-Noord was one of the biggest poison in our country. The former landfill with a size of 100 hectares housed as many as ten thousand barrels with dioxins and benzenes. Now, after the largest soil remediation ever in the Netherlands, the heavily polluted terrain has been transformed into a nature reserve.
Prince Willem-Alexander will open the renovated Volgermeer polder on Tuesday. He unveils the image De Veenarbeider and gets from the hands of Mayor Eberhard van der Laan the book The Recreation of the Volgermeer.
Although at the insistence of troubled local residents the landfill closed down in 1981, the approach to the area began only in 2003. For a long time there was not enough money available for this gigantic job, which cost around 100 million euros.
The dirt is embedded in the old peat soil. As a result, a relatively simple way of remediation could be applied. The poison did not have to be removed, but is covered with foil and thick layers of soil and water, which together form a so-called wet layer. The municipality also checks annually whether any contaminated groundwater escapes.
The Volgermeer polder belongs to Amsterdam but is close to the village of Broek in Waterland. In the twenties, peat was extracted and the tile holes were filled with household waste.
Later on the area was given the function of landfill, where in the 1960s a lot of illegal chemical waste was dumped. This mainly concerned residual products from the manufacture of pesticides. The poison came to light in 1980, on which many investigations followed the possibilities to clean up the site.
on it will again be a plaThirty years after the closure, the dangerous landfill has been transformed into a water-rich nature reserve with rice fields and watercourses, where there is room for rare plants and animals. The Volgermeer polder was inaccessible for a long time, but from this weekce for cyclists, hikers, riders and canoeists. (THE PAROOL)