Drinking water 2040

The supply of drinking water in Overijssel is well organised: the drinking water is of a high quality in terms of health and comfort criteria, it is almost always available, and is inexpensive. It can gain in added value in the decades ahead by taking advantage of opportunities and linking with other functions.

We have conducted a strategic exploration of the drinking water supply in Overijssel after 2040. This strategic exploration critically analyses the present drinking water supply in the light of a number of social developments in Overijssel and in the rest of the world. It is a stimulus to take action, preserving the qualities of the present drinking water supply while at the same time investigating ways of taking advantage of new opportunities. In the strategic exploration, whose foundations were laid in three intensive workshops with some twenty representatives of organisations involved, we visualised the consequences of a very wide variety of future drinking water supply scenarios.

By making the rigid guidelines within which drinking water is produced at the moment more flexible, new possible forms of cooperation may emerge that can lead to interesting new coalitions. We can also use this strategy to cope with the foreseen developments connected with the loss of capacity of a number of locations that provide drinking water at the moment. Moreover, there are various opportunities in the field of multifunctional water extraction and sustainability.

The design aspect played a particularly important role in the development of the strategic exploration. In this project we have put our energy above all into integrating and making accessible a very high diversity of specialist knowledge, directing an adventurous planning process, and thinking in terms of coherent possible futures.