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Underground water buffer next to soccer stadium

An underground water buffer will be installed under Spartaplein, the square around the Kasteel stadium, home to Dutch soccer club Sparta. This buffer will collect, filter and store rainwater deep underground. The rainwater harvested in this way will be used to irrigate the soccer field in the stadium.

Smart horticultural technology for premier league soccer club in Rotterdam

An underground water buffer will be installed under Spartaplein, the square around the Kasteel stadium, home to Dutch soccer club Sparta. This buffer will collect, filter and store rainwater deep underground. The rainwater harvested in this way will be used to irrigate the soccer field in the stadium.

No flooding in the neighborhood and rainwater is reused

Rainwater in the local neighborhood of Spangen was difficult to effectively drain as the area is low-lying and highly built-up with very few green spaces. A new, 1000 m3 large buffer constructed using crates and plastic sheeting installed underneath a Cruyff sports court will collect runoff rainwater from a paved area covering three hectares (the stadium and surrounding square) and reduce flooding in the Spangen district during heavy rainfall. A biofilter comprising plants and filter sand then purifies the rainwater, before it is stored via infiltration drains in an underground aquifer. Sparta can use the filtered rainwater to irrigate the synthetic turf in the soccer stadium and utilize less tabwater.

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Underground water buffer requires extra safeguards

The underground aquifer will be created in a sandy layer at a depth of 15 to 30 meters. The technical aspects of the water management installations are the result of collaboration between various parties within the Urban Water Buffer consortium headed by the KWR Water Cycle Institute. Field Factors focused on spatially integrating the water buffer system in the urban context and delivered the biofiltration systems and Codema Systems Group delivered the engineering and realized the project. Project manager Jack Vink of Codema Systems Group: ‘We designed this installation in cooperation with KWR and the Municipality of Rotterdam. Our role in the project was the engineering. It was an interesting challenge to integrate our expertise in horticultural technology into an urban environment. For example, the technical installations for the water were placed in an underground cellar. In horticulture this equipment is installed above ground of course, so any leaks don’t have the potential consequences of an underground site. Extra safeguards were needed for this underground water buffer, including taking the ground water into account. ‘

Exceptional installation in an urban environment

The underground water buffer is a pilot in the framework of the Urban Water Buffer project. The Urban Water Buffer Spangen involves the collaboration of the municipality of Rotterdam, water board Hoogheemraadschap van Delfland and water company Evides Waterbedrijf. Activities started in March and are scheduled for completion in June.
This project has received funding in the form of public-private partnerships (PPS) from the Top Consortia for Knowledge and Innovation (TKI) subsidized by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy.