Creating greenhouse water reservoirs to a centimetre's precision

There is not a lot of expansion in Dutch glasshouses at the moment, but maintenance and renovation is still required. At Van Daalen in Maasdijk, they have noticed this. The business is busy renovating existing reservoirs. And that is precision work.

With a face of concentration, digger driver Marco is looking at the Ridderkerk clay soil where over the past few days, he has formed half a reservoir. The clay soil is difficult to work with: it is slippery to get hold of and then it really dries out, but for Marco, it's no problem. "The banks just need to be straight," he says. "One centimetre tolerance is really my max. If it is off by five centimetres, then you will see holes. We can't have that. And you can't just go back to fix it. It must be right first time."

GPS
Getting the dams of the reservoir straight has to be done by eye, but the digger itself has GPS. Van Daalen have been working with it for about the last four years. On the screen, you can see exactly how the reservoir should be formed. The benefit of this is not only that the reservoir will be precisely the right size in the right location, but also that the liner can be ordered even before the first cut is made in the ground. "You get exactly what you intended," shows Aad van Staalduinen. He works in sales for Van Daalen. "Previously, we could only measure for the liner after the reservoir had been dug. That didn't only cost time, but also carried risks. Producing it takes time and in the meantime, the reservoir was unprotected. When the liner is over it, there can't be any damage any more. Because we draw everything digitally and use GPS, it goes a lot quicker. Then the grower has less time without water." 

Just time for a photo

For about 3 years, Van Daalen have been working with GPS

The banks - precision work

Aad van Staalduinen

Maintenance and renovation
Dutch areas are hardly growing any more and that is clear at Van Daalen. The business is really active in taking over existing reservoirs. "Ten to fifteen years ago, there was a lot of building. These reservoirs now need renovation," says Van Staalduinen. Part of this is that the liners that were previously used now contain weak spots. "You see it discolouring and becoming fragile. The water sometimes seeps out - that's the time to replace the reservoir." Because these are often completely built in, that's sometimes a difficult task. "The Westland is densely covered and you can't just go anywhere with a digger. We have to bear that in mind. That is not a problem for us." 

The designing of a new reservoir

Renovation
In the project in Ridderkerk, the existing reservoir is being renovated. About 10 days ago, the men from Van Daalen began the task here. The old reservoir is pumped out, the silt is removed and the slope and liner removed. Now it is time for the groundwork: the inbetween banks are removed and the capacity of the reservoir is being increased. Thereafer, drainage is brought in and thereafter the liner. This is fixed on the glasshouse side so that no rainwater can seep into the glasshouse - something that was previously a problem for the grower. Finally, the slope covering goes over and then the reservoir is like new.

At the beginning of next week, all available hands will come to help with rolling out the liner. "That is always a nice moment," says Van Staalduinen. "We work at Van Daalen with a total concept. From development to realisation and finishing off, we do it all. Only for rolling out the liner do we need a lot of people. Just with everyone hard at it. That is part of it."

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