What a relaxing day we had 5/9! Today we took a walking tour of downtown Enschede’s water drainage systems lead by one of their own local civil engineers who works on this. Our lovely guide explained to us the Enschede is one of the few places in the Netherlands that is naturally above sea level and is built slightly into a hillside. This means that it would be very easy for water to flow downhill and overwhelm the lower parts of the city while the higher ones stayed relatively dry.

However, this is not fair to downhill residents and the constant floods would be dangerous. What Enschede has done instead is implemented a policy that water will be absorbed where it falls. Like much of the Netherlands, Enschede’s ground is made of sand and clay. The sandy regions are excellent at absorbing rainwater, so streets are shaped to direct as much water to open soil as possible for it to be absorbed. This makes use of a naturally occurring resource in a way that does not hinder human activities nor does it impact the ability of said resource to continue providing that purpose. Since this is a traditional definition of sustainability, Enschede’s storm water management systems are quite green in that sense.

However sometimes the sandy soil just isn’t enough to deal with a particularly heavy rainfall. When that happens, water can be directed into one of these overflow regions pictured. The stone wall pieces prevent water from spilling into the streets and flooding buildings while allowing water to accumulate there before it can be absorbed. When not in use, native plant life has made its home in the exposed soil, which serves to rewild the city. The return of biodiversity to downtown Enschede is sustainable because visible plant life is known to improve the mental health of any city resident and the health and happiness of people is deeply aligned with UN SDG 3.

In addition to touring the water drainage systems of Enschede, we also got to visit their city market that operates on Saturdays. The food there was fresh, cheap, and delicious, In addition, since Enschede is so close to Germany there were many German speakers who came to the city for the market. This taught me a lot about what the Dutch value in their food and how they interact with their neighbors. Dutch consumers highly prize sourcing food as locally as possible as well as quality. In the US, our food often comes from far away and has many additives in it. Such options in America cost a lot extra, but this seems to be the default in the Netherlands as consumers value it so much. In addition, the Dutch seemed to welcome their neighbors in Germany to their market and were more than willing to do business with them. This suggests that along the border, the two countries get along fairly well.