Pump housings - Radio Kootwijk

There are two identical pump houses in front of the water tower. Octagonal houses built from stone and presumably designed by an unknown Apeldoorn architect. The houses were later built over the pumping installations to protect them from sand and weather.

The water that had to be pumped is groundwater from the surrounding, higher-lying areas. This water vein is 30 metres deep, while pumping, due to atmospheric pressure, is possible down to 10 metres. The pumps are therefore located at a depth of 20 metres.

The hole in which the pumps are located was dug by hand at the time. A concrete circle the size of the pump served as a mould. After this was dug out, concrete circles were added until the hole was deep enough. Digging and hoisting were done extremely primitively with a tripod placed over the hole.

The longest wrought-iron spiral staircase in the Netherlands led to the plateau where the pumps were located. There was enough space to drain the leaking water. The pumps run on electricity that was generated at the 50KV substation further down the complex.

For a long time, very clean water came out of the ground as it sank down through the sand from the higher areas and was filtered. However, over the years, as agricultural land was increasingly treated with various artificial substances, the water became increasingly turbid. Eventually, Radio Kootwijk was connected to the Apeldoorn water network