Randers resumes digging to divert water from polluted Nordic Waste site

Randers Municipality is restarting excavation work at the Nordic Waste site near Ølst to divert rainwater around contaminated areas, DR reports.

The move follows an assessment that water quality at the site is worse than initially expected, putting pressure on the treatment plant that processes surface water from the area.

Although the landslide at the former soil-treatment company has been stabilised and collection basins and a treatment plant have been built, new channels will now be dug through the large soil embankment. They will prevent rainwater flowing from the top of the slope from becoming contaminated as it runs down the site, municipal chief executive Jesper Kaas Schmidt said.

The clean water diverted through the channels will eventually be mixed with contaminated water in a controlled process before treatment. Diluting the contaminated water will make it easier to handle and reduce the strain on the plant’s membranes and other treatment systems, Schmidt said.

The work is planned and does not indicate that the landslide has started moving again, according to Randers Municipality. Residents in Ølst will see construction machinery operating for a period, with the work expected to last six weeks, until mid-October.

The project is expected to cost about 800,000 kroner. The municipality expects the measures to reduce the cost of operating the treatment plant.