Caminos
Verified · Jun 20261 min read
● projectActive · local · 2017

SUPERLOCAL - gesloten waterkringloop (closed water cycle), Kerkrade

Demonstration circular neighbourhood in Bleijerheide (Kerkrade, Limburg) where materials from two vacant social housing towers are reused to build ~130 homes and a closed water cycle is implemented at neighbourhood scale: rainwater is collected, stored and treated to drinking quality in a decentralized modular plant; greywater is treated in a helophyte filter for reuse; and blackwater from vacuum toilets (1 litre per flush) is digested to produce biogas and fertilizer. It is one of the first attempts in the Netherlands to produce drinking water from rainwater at neighbourhood scale.

Industrial water pipes with colorful valves against a wallillustrative atlas image · Sonny Sixteen / Pexels
GKGemeente Kerkrade (municipio)governmentH(HEEMwonen (corporación de vivienda social)otherW-WML - Waterleiding Maatschappij Limburg (empresa de agua potable)companyWLWaterschapsbedrijf Limburg / Waterschap Limburg (autoridad del agua)governmentKWKWR Water Research InstituteotherDVDiederik van DuurenHVHenk-Jan van Alphen
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01 How it works

method · Resource recovery (biogas and fertilizer from blackwater)method · Closed water cycle at neighborhood scale (SLOW/LESS/LOCAL principles)method · Source separation of blackwater and greywater (nieuwe sanitatie)tool · Anaerobic digestion of blackwatertool · Decentralized modular rainwater purification planttool · Helophyte filter (helofytenfilter) for greywatertool · Vacuum toilets (1 liter per flush)

02 What it stands on

Evidence level
Own experience
Grounded in published theory
Documented evidence elsewhere
Independently evaluated here
Peer-reviewed research documents this project: the strongest evidence level in the atlas.
The evidence 2 ›
ContextMaking SENSE Of Diverse, Decentralised Water Innovations (proyecto SENSE, sitio demo SUPERLOCAL)KWR Water Research Institute · 2021
EvidenceTowards Circular Water Neighborhoods: Simulation-Based Decision Support for Integrated Decentralized Urban Water SystemsWater (MDPI) · 2019

03 Lessons learned

This type of project takes 5 to 10 years from idea to implementation; the main challenges are regulatory (Dutch law does not yet allow delivering treated rainwater as mains drinking water) and the maintenance of the decentralized system.

04 Go to the source

Visit the official site ↗superlocal.eu