WATER WEEDS, BELGIUM, BOLINA BOOMS
Bolina floating debris booms installed at water-link, Belgium, to contain water weeds.
Water-link supplies drinking water in northern Belgium, using natural water resources around Lier and Duffel to produce potable water for Greater Antwerp.
Problems with the excessive growth of water weeds occur every year in the large storage basins. Water weeds do provide oxygen to the water, but this invasive species, which grows very fast and floats on the water surface, clogs the waterways and drainage grids. Water weeds also clog the water flow between the different basins. It is a very labour-intensive task to keep the grids free in the summertime, so that the water supply for the drinking water process is not compromised.
By placing Bolina’s Permanent Debris Boom PDB600 a couple of metres in front of this water supply point, the water weeds are stopped even before they reach the grid. The removal of the water weeds is now also very quick, as manual work is no longer needed at the narrow grating. An excavator with sorting bucket scrapes all the water weeds along the wall of the Bolina debris boom and then places it directly into a container. Because the floating debris barrier is placed at an angle of 45°, the flow in combination with the smooth sides ensures that the water weeds are automatically directed towards the river bank.
Currently only this first reservoir in Lier is equipped with Bolina Permanent Debris Booms, but there are plans to equip the other basins with similar barriers in 2021.