Rockflow Water Storage and Infiltration System from Lapinus Used for The

Part of the ROCKWOOL Group Rockfl ow water storage and infi ltration system from Lapinus used for the fi rst time as a stormwater drain under residential streets in Maasbracht Rockfl ow prevents fl ooding due to extreme rainfall by storing water and releasing it gradually into the ground. Situation before implementation Rockfl ow Situation after implementation Rockfl ow For the fi rst time, Lapinus, part of ROCKWOOL, has municipality is opting for more effective water buffering installed their Rockfl ow water storage and infi ltration and infi ltration than gravel or lava cases and crate system under residential streets as a rainwater drain, systems offer. The innovative system stores twice commissioned by the municipality of Maasgouw as much water as lava and/or gravel. On top of that (Limburg). The municipality previously installed infi ltration is faster since the bottom surface area of Rockfl ow buffers beneath playgrounds and car parks the buffer is available for water to percolate through. with great success. The rainwater drain used has a total “Stone wool has such a high density (pore size less than length of almost 3 kilometres. Rainwater from the roofs 40 µm) that sand grains cannot infi ltrate the system”, and streets is channelled via drainpipes and gutters explains Lowie Eĳ kelhardt, civil technology project to the underground water storage units, made from leader at Maasgouw Municipality. “The high absorption Rockfl ow elements. With an absorption capacity of capacity of Rockfl ow also ensures that less material 95%, the stone wool elements store the water quickly is required to achieve the intended buffer volume. and release it gradually into the ground within 24 hours. Compared with lava cases this is a factor of more than Rockfl ow ensures that stormwater no longer enters the 2. With Rockfl ow, less than half the amount of soil wastewater sewer, thereby preventing fl ooding in the needs to be excavated.” event of extreme rainfall. With Rockfl ow, Maasgouw Casus Maasbracht Maasgouw Municipality is proactive in Limburg from the front of the roofs and the streets is discharged regarding the disposal of stormwater. Rainwater is to the stone wool packages via drainpipes, drainage no longer transported to a purifi cation installation via gutters and underground pipework. The packages fi ll the wastewater sewer but is infi ltrated via infi ltration up from the bottom. Driessen: “A stone wool package elements in the ground. This has two benefi ts: of 1 m3 fi tted with infl ow channels fi lls with water in 10 wastewater treatment plants perform better if the waste minutes, which is six times faster than the norm in this water to be processed is less diluted by rainwater, and project.” The release of the water takes place within a infi ltration improves the water balance and counteracts maximum of 24 hours. “This depends on the moisture depletion of groundwater. The municipality has been level of the soil. With relatively dry soil this can be 4 to replacing old wastewater drains and is placing new 5 hours. In the event of full saturation, infi ltration is no infi ltration systems since 2008, increasingly relying on longer possible and the water is then discharged into Rockfl ow for these systems. Furthermore, Rockfl ow the Maas river at four outlets.” has a high load-bearing capacity, as a result of which coverage of only 35 centimetres in depth is suffi cient, Lapinus was involved in the project from design to which is an additional benefi t” states Rob Driessen, implementation. Driessen: “We spent a great deal of business developer at Lapinus. “Due to this, the system time explaining the system beforehand. There were can be installed very close to the surface of the road, some questions, particularly concerning the load which means it is one of the few systems suitable for bearing capacity. Clients, consultancy bureaus and locations with a high groundwater level.” Rockfl ow is contractors don’t usually expect stone wool to be very also an environmentally friendly system. “Stone wool is strong, because it is a light and porous material. In made from volcanic basalt rock; a natural substance that order to fully convince them, we showed them our test is fully recyclable.” location. A year ago, we installed Rockfl ow in a range of element strengths on our own industrial estate. Every BLM Wegenbouw of Wessem started installing Rockfl ow day, 60 to 120 trucks drive over the test surfaces; in that from the middle of 2018. Engineering bureau Ducot time, not one element has sunk even a millimetre. Engineering & Advies of Herten created the Rockfl ow That says it all.” Jean-Philippe Janssens, senior water design and wrote the specifi cations on behalf of the advisor at Ducot Engineering & Advies, confi rms this. municipality. A strip of Rockfl ow 1 metre in height by “At the time the system was being designed, this 120 - 150 cm in width is installed in excavated trenches. test was still running. To be absolutely sure that the The total volume for all the streets is around 2,500 cubic Rockfl ow elements would not sag, we did not design metres. 50 to 70 centimetres of infi ll sand, a 30 cm one package, but two narrower ones. In retrospect, this foundation of mixed granulate, 5 centimetres of road appears not to have been necessary and the design was sand and fi nally a hard surface of concrete blocks are adapted to a single strip, 1.2 to 1.5 metres in width.” placed on top of the Rockfl ow packages. The rainwater By the end of 2019, all the streets in Old Maasbracht will be fi tted with Rockfl ow. Lowie Eĳ kelhardt has been very satisfi ed with the system up to now and doesn’t rule out the conversion of other streets in Maasgouw to the innovative water management system. “I don’t want to put Lapinus on a pedestal, but I am an absolute fan of the product.” Lapinus / ROCKWOOL B.V. P.O. Box 1160, 6040 KD | Roermond, The Netherlands T: +31 475 35 35 55 | F: +31 475 35 36 77 | [email protected] | lapinus.com/rockfl ow.

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