Natural Capping of the landfill Volgermeerpolder

Operation and Maintenance

For the stimulation of nature development an ecological maintenance plan was made. This plan focused on several nature values such as reed marshes, sawa development (see Figure) and the central waterway. As indicated before, apart from creating an impermeable layer, peat formation itself is also of great ecological value. Peat marshes function as habitats for many animal species, such as birds, amphibians and reptiles. It is important that management for nature is always synchronized with other goals and types of management, because in systems like the Volgermeerpolder, ecology always influences related factors such as water quality and vice versa. Therefore, the most important maintenance activities are selective vegetation control, water level control (actively pumping water from the buffer sawas to the sawas), and reed control.

Nature restoration focussed on ecological values as reed and peat development.

To speed up the nature development, periodic management is applied to guide natural development with a minimum of intervention. The goal is to create a robust system that can be maintained with as little management and maintenance activities as possible, in terms of ecology as well as pollution prevention.

Initiation of vegetation growth on top of the natural cap.