WiCE tackles societal challenges jointly with other sectors

In 2024, the collective research programme Water in de Circular Economy (WiCE) launched a new six-year programme. The previous six-year programme was subdivided thematically, with themes like ‘efficient with raw materials’ and ‘efficient with fresh’.  ‘This has been dropped in the new programme,’ say WiCE programme managers Henk-Jan van Alphen and Joep van den Broeke of KWR. ‘Because we actually want to work on theme-transcending issues, from an interdisciplinary perspective. In doing so, we concentrate on the development of knowledge that supports societal transitions in practice.’

Flexible energy use

A good example in this regard is the ‘Flex in Water’ project, which got underway in 2024. It addresses the question of how drinking water utilities can contribute to the energy transition by making use of the flexibility in the management of their assets. ‘At the same time, this flexibility offers further advantages,’ says Van den Broeke, ‘like the better use of energy produced in-house and cost savings compared to fixed capacity contracts. To achieve these goals, knowledge and experience from the provincial authorities, and the energy and water sectors, is being collected and shared.’ In addition, cases in which demand management is possible in the drinking water sector are being selected for potential follow-up projects, so that ‘Flex in Water’ can actually be implemented in practice.

Connect with societal challenges

This approach also raises a broader question: How can you connect asset management decisions with societal challenges? This question is at the centre of the ‘Value Case Development’ project. Van den Broeke: ‘In this project KWR researchers, in co-creation with drinking water utility asset managers, are developing a process methodology aimed at integrating societal values into asset management decisions. This will also make is possible for the drinking water utilities to connect their own challenges with the societal challenges in their immediate environment.’

Technical and managerial

The Connecting the Water Cycle and the Water System for a Better Balance of Water Demand and Supply project, which was concluded in 2024, was of a completely different order. In this case, freshwater availability at a regional scale was centre-stage. The project made an explicit connection between the technical knowledge of the physical water system and the managerial knowledge about water governance. ‘Because without the one you can’t change the other,’ says Van Alphen. ‘We shape the transition process working in collaboration with water utilities and area partners, and, during the course of the process, we develop knowledge and tools which we put directly into practice.’

Jointly with stakeholders as standard

WiCE fulfils an important leading role with these and other projects. In the magazine ROND water, Riksta Zwart, Director of the Groningen Water Utility and chair of the WiCE core group, put it this way : ‘We can no longer operate in isolation. You naturally have research that you carry out on your own, but the results of the research always need to find a place in the broader societal context, as we are already trying to accomplish in WiCE.’

You will find further information about WiCE and the WiCE research programme on our website or in the ROND water magazine (Dutch). These also contain contact details for the programme managers Henk-Jan van Alphen and Joep van den Broeke.