More than a week after the fire in a bulb shed in Heemstede, the residents of the Rivierenbuurt are still in the stench. The sewage smell comes from the ditches that are polluted with extinguishing water. The Rijnland Water Board is already pumping out some dirty water, but is still waiting for research results before taking further action.
The water board has placed baffles so that the polluted water cannot simply run into the Leidsevaart. And as a result, the water is largely stagnant, which does not benefit the quality. “I am not going to sit in the garden now and I also keep the windows closed, because you will smell it differently throughout your house,” says a resident of the Linge who is bothered by the stench.
The Rijnland Water Board currently does not know to what extent the water is polluted and has therefore, as a precaution, placed signs with the message that people should not touch the water. In the meantime, some water is already being pumped away to counteract the stench, but it does not help much. “It comes in gusts, especially in the morning it’s very bad. And at night, it just bubbles here,” says a lady who walks a few rounds through the neighborhood with her dogs every day.
Another resident also complains. “It’s just unbearable, that stench! It really needs to be solved quickly.” According to residents, the animal ambulance has already come by a number of times to catch swans and transfer them to clean water. “I don’t think there is any life in the water, there are many dead fish,” says a resident who has a garden adjacent to one of the polluted ditches.
Research results
The latest research results are expected by the Rijnland Water Board on Thursday. “We have two options. Dispose of everything, but that will cause high costs and inconvenience because we drive with tankers,” says Martin Riethoff, location coordinator at Rijnland. “The other option is to dilute the water by running clean water into the ditches until the values are acceptable to pump the water into the system.”
As soon as the results are in on Thursday, the water board will take action to clean the ditches again.