Three German high-explosive bombs weighing 250 kilos cause months of delays in the construction of a gas pipeline between two farms in Knegsel. On Tuesday morning, the bombs from World War II surfaced. However, removing it immediately is not an option. The pipeline is needed to make gas from cow manure that can be used by surrounding households.
Farmer Jos Seuntiëns has three hundred dairy cows and is the owner of Ecotop Meststoffen. He uses the cow manure to produce gas for about three hundred households, but there should be more.
“We put the fresh manure in a silo, a digester, to make biogas. It is 38 degrees in the tank, which releases gas. That gas is purified and then goes into the grid so that people can use it at home,” Jos explains. However, the bombs are now causing delays in an adjacent meadow.
Purify gas
A large hole containing three high-explosive bombs could be seen on Tuesday morning in the meadow on Vessemseweg. Farmer Jos and his colleague Wilco de Crom were busy building a gas pipeline when the bombs were discovered.
At the moment, only Jos can produce biogas, because the gas generation installation is located on his property. This is a container in which the gas is purified so that it is suitable for consumers.
The project is a joint, costly investment by the two farmers. A one and a half kilometer pipeline will soon transport the gas from Wilco to Jos, so that together they can supply five hundred households with gas.
But due to the three bombs, which have been in the ground for more than eighty years, the project is in danger of being delayed for months — possibly as much as six months. The explosives cannot be removed immediately. They are first covered with sand.
There must be a plan for how they can be cleared safely. Digging or shooting is not an option, as that can cause vibrations. “It’s very annoying for us,” says Jos. “Work is now at a standstill. My colleague cannot come to me with his gas.”
No waste
According to Wilco, it should all have been ready six months ago. “But because it is all new, we are experiencing a lot of delays and now there are also bombs. This delay will cost a lot of money.”
Wilco makes CO2-neutral cheese from the milk of his cows in his own cheese factory. “With the gas from cow manure we reduce nitrogen and methane emissions by seventy percent. It is about creating value for society. This includes animal welfare, the environment and green energy. We try to make a positive contribution.”
Yet the two farmers remain positive. “This is the future,” says Jos proudly. “Our cows produce milk, gas and manure that people can use in their gardens. We have no waste, I couldn’t make it more beautiful.”
According to Jos and Wilco, if every farmer in the Netherlands did this, 1.2 million households could be supplied with gas.
Cover explosives with sand
According to the Ministry of Defense, there are three German high-explosive bombs in the ground near farmer Jos, each containing 250 kilos of explosive. “The Explosive Ordnance Disposal Service has not yet been able to identify the detonators of the high-explosive bombs due to the high groundwater level.”
The explosives are covered with a large amount of sand and the site is cordoned off with a fence. A specialist X-ray team must identify the detonators, after which a plan is drawn up to safely defuse the explosives.
