Everyone can save water, says Koos: “With a few tens and two hands”

On a sunny spring day, this garden looks like an explosion of greenery, and that is just one of the water-saving measures that Koos has fixed himself. He found the house with a backyard full of concrete slabs, but nothing is left of it. He left one slab as a foundation for his shed, but the rest has made way for fertile soil that can absorb the rainwater.

floor drain

Koos admits that the idea of ​​tackling water management in the garden of his new home was not just for environmental reasons, but also motivated by self-interest. The house he bought is slightly lower than the houses in the area, so the water doesn’t drain on its own. Koos has a background in sewer management, so draining water is his profession.

Yet he realized that just draining was not enough and actually quite a shame. So he started looking for measures to apply water storage on a small scale. He proudly shows the result: special gutters that are connected to a subterranean reservoir filled with gravel. The water does not flow into the garden, but is returned to the ground with a delay.

A little further on, his water barrel is a large square plastic colossus in which a cubic meter of rainwater can be stored. “Bought, for a few bucks, from a farmer friend in the neighbourhood,” says Brouwers.

green shelter

But Koos is most proud of the green, water-absorbing roof of his firewood storage. He put together the roof himself with a strip of construction cloth, a few bags of grain and a load of seed plants. And that also looks very cozy from the higher bedroom.

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Koos’s adaptations are just a few examples of simple, inexpensive do-it-yourself measures that would yield enormous water savings if applied on a large scale.

WatZr

Koos became involved in the ‘WatZr’ campaign through his work with the municipality. This campaign is an initiative of ‘Together Blue Green’, a collaborative organization of 28 municipalities, the Hoogheemraadschap Hollands Noorderkwartier, water supply company PWN and the province of Noord-Holland.

WatZr encourages sustainable water use by private individuals. On the website from this club you will find a wealth of tips for dealing with water in a sustainable way. If you sign up you can win a rainwater-friendly remake of your garden.