The highway 'Gaasperdammerweg' in Amsterdam will be widened to two times five lanes and a tunnel of three kilometers long. With this project, the air in Amsterdam Southeast will become cleaner and noise pollution will decrease. Before the living environment improves, preparations must be made. That is why Rijkswaterstaat started moving cables and pipes for water, gas, electricity and telephony at the beginning of 2014. During these activities, the company 'Van Kessel Bronbemaling' provides source and voltage drainage. Because drainage can affect the soil in the area, it is essential to monitor it.
'Van Kessel Bronbemaling' has opted for a complete telemetric measurement network. Driekus Kroeze, Head of Implementation at location Geesbrug, and Imre van Hal, Implementation Assistant at 'Van Kessel Bronbemaling', explain: 'The monitoring network has 25 locations, all of which are equiped with a deep and a shallow monitoring well. The monitoring wells are equipped with Diver water level loggers that measure groundwater levels and Global Data Transmitters Multiple that send the data to the Eijkelkamp Web Portal. In addition, 72 soil moisture sensors have been installed.'
Jan Pellegrom, Head of Implementation at the Buren location, adds: 'We were looking for a telemetric total package of sensor, modem and online environment. We did want a package that can be expanded. I see it this way: when you're just 18, you don't immediately get into a Rolls Royce. Working with such a system is all new to us at 'Van Kessel Bronbemaling', but we are aware that this telemetric solution will be inevitable in a few years' time, because the client will make it a requirement. 'Van Kessel Bronbemaling' likes to invest in the future.'
'We have requested a number of quotes, including from Royal Eijkelkamp. We already knew Royal Eijkelkamp, because we used equipment such as their well-known auger. Royal Eijkelkamp scored the best, both in terms of user-friendliness and possibilities within the telemetric solution. Moreover, it is very nice that the Eijkelkamp Academy has environmental knowledge and expertise in-house. Sometimes you just need someone to spar with. That is worth more to us than just going for the cheapest price.'
'It is a pity that we did not have this system five years ago when the Western Scheldt crossing between Ossendrecht (the Netherlands) and Zelzate (Belgium) was being constructed. Someone there was constantly measuring the groundwater levels, because the (financial) risk was so great. We now have real-time data available 24 hours a day and we can link alarms to it. In this way, we immediately know what is going on. What is the urgency? Do we have to go there in the middle of the night now? Or can it wait until morning? We can now play with that and that is a big advantage.'
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