05/09/2026
Today we had the opportunity to walk around the city of Enschede, by which the university of Twente is located. Before going off on our own to explore we met with a municipal employee who gave us a guided tour of some of the city and described how the city needs to deal with increased rainfall in an area that is prone to flooding.
The additional rainfall is an especially big problem for the city because when the sewer system was designed it initially only anticipates to need to handle a maximum 20 mm of rainfall, now it needs to accommodate 60mm. In addition to the increases in precipitation stressing the storm water system, the area is already prone to flooding since it is one of the few places in the Netherlands with any substantial change in elevation and a clay layer close to the surface means ground water isn’t absorbed very far. Since natural streams were build over in the 1900s the water will flow to the lowest portions of the city including the city center and neighborhoods, flooding out streets, businesses, and homes.
To solve the problem of flooding, the water authority in Eschede needed to find ways to move water off the surface or divert it in the paths of old streams to prevent most of the flooding. We got to see different locations where green spaces and inset rain gardens were added to try and capture water off the surface. One rain garden in particular (the below picture on the right) is connected to a massive holding tank under the street that stores water in a large “moat” before it reaches the city center. While this isn’t a total solution to the problem, it does significantly decrease the water that would flood into the spaces downhill.
The city was able to add more green space and water hungry plants along some roads, but other places like the large square in the city center where a market is held, present much more of a challenge. The area needs to be kept mostly clear so vendors can set up stalls, so putting in many trees would present obstacles and smaller plants would get trampled. Putting in another underground tank would also bee a challenge because there is a parking garage located a bit more than a meter under the surface directly under the square. There are drains located around the square for storm water, but fish vendors from the market will dump grease in then at the end of the day, frequently clogging them.
This is a ongoing problem the city is working to solve, but so far they have been able to put some trees in the square along the edges and around seating areas that are out of the way of vendors but still provide a benefit to water management. To combat grease in the sewer, the city has installed specific receptacles that can filter out the cooking grease and fat from water, so the filters can be changed monthly and the water can continue into the sewers.
After the tour we got the chance to explore the city, we walked around the market held in the city center, where I got a bag of greenbeans cheese and strawberries. The amount of greenbeans I could get for less that 2 euro was so much more than I had expected but these made a great snack for the rest of the day (and most of the next). Later we found a candy store with an impressive assortment of licorice and cola flavored gummies which are flavors we have seen more frequently that I had expected. If you look closely at the licorice, you may be able to see both licorice rats and mice which I thought were fun.
This evening the University of Twente hosted the end of the Bata race, which is a relay race between universities all over the Netherlands. After the end of the race there was a huge celebration with both a pop cover concert and rave which I was extremely excited for as a big fan of dutch hardstyle.