Ameland is an island with unique challenges and opportunities in drinking water production. An increasing demand for drinking water due to growing tourism and a growing permanent population creates challenges. The current drinking water supply largely relies on freshwater bubbles under the island and water brought in from the mainland via pipes. However, this approach is fragile and not fully sustainable. Therefore, this paper investigated whether electrodialysis metathesis (EDM) could contribute to a self-sufficient and future-proof drinking water system for Ameland. The study concludes that EDM is a promising technique for producing drinking water from seawater on Ameland. The road to a self-sufficient drinking water system is still long and has many obstacles, but this research shows that with the right innovations and knowledge, it is possible.
This is how I came up with the idea for this project:We, Martijn Ridder and Sjoerd Kiewiet, were born and raised on Ameland. While searching for a subject for our school project, we came across the need to supply drinking water from outside Ameland. This led to the question: Can the production of drinking water also be done on Ameland itself?
