The problems with the water in the Rietplas must come to an end. Complaints have been made for years about water levels that are too low and blue-green algae is increasingly causing a nuisance. A new working group will draw up a plan to solve the problem.
The working group consists of the neighborhood associations of the Rietlanden and Parc Sandur, together with the municipality of Emmen and experts. “We want to offer the new council of Emmen a kind of action plan before the end of the year with the possibilities and, if possible, also the costs involved,” says Henk van der Vaart, district chairman of the Rietlanden.
The cause of problems with the water level lies in the bottom of the swimming and recreational lake, district board member Gert Reemeijer knows. “A small amount of water constantly sinks into the soil. This is only replenished with rainwater.” According to him, the water level has been low since 2017-2018. “Then we spoke to the municipality, because you saw that boats were lying on the sand near the houses and local residents complained that they could not use the lake.”
At the time, Emmen had research carried out into possible solutions, but according to Reemeijer it turned out not to be easy. Due to some wetter years, the water level problem faded into the background. However, the nuisance of blue-green algae has been increasing over the last three to four years. “Particularly in the summer and now even in the spring, people complain that they see blue-green algae in the water.”
In addition to the odor nuisance, swimming is also not recommended if the water quality is not good enough. Reemeijer believes the consequences of this are a shame for residents, recreationists and the catering industry. “In my opinion, there is a clear task for the municipality, which is the manager of the area, to do something about this.”
A task that the municipality is taking on. A spokesperson said that the concerns are shared and the municipality “sees a great need to improve quality.” The process is ongoing with the working group. In addition, Emmen is busy cleaning up currents and tackling geese pollution.
Next week the working group will meet for the second time to discuss the options. The neighborhood association is happy that the problem is back on the agenda, but it is not expected that the problems will be solved quickly.
“It is a matter of years until you reach the point we have reached now. If you organize it well and money becomes available, it will also take years until the quality is good. But you have to start somewhere. Ultimately, it must lead to a healthy Rietplas, because that is where we have to go,” says district chairman Henk van der Vaart.
