How clean is the water?

Sports, exercise and games are part of the Marineterrein and the inner harbor is a popular swimming spot for recreationists and lap swimmers.

There might already be plenty of activity in our waters, but that is still at your own risk. When for example the sewer overflows, E. coli (faecal bacteria) can end up in the water, which can make swimmers sick.

Check our live dashboard to see whether the water quality is good enough for swimming. To get the green light for an official swimming spot, the water quality must be measured for two years and be good for that entire time.

Faster testing

Last year, a sample of the inland harbor water was analyzed for E.coli every two hours with a new BACTcontrol sensor. A significant improvement from the 24 hours it previously took to test the water quality.

During the test period, results from the new sensor were compared with ‘traditional’ manual measurements. These measurements looked at the amount of E. coli in the water and the results from both methods were largely similar.

Little pollution

Because it has been found that there is little contamination with fecal bacteria in the water of the inner harbor, and the water quality is therefore good, it was decided to continue the test with the BACTcontrol sensor elsewhere. The water at the Marineterrein continues to be manually checked for E. coli, both routinely and when there is an overflow from the sewerage system.

The research with the BACTcontrol sensor is a collaboration between KWR, Waternet, MicroLAN and Bureau Marineterrein. Previous studies were carried out by Deltares, Biotrack, Waternet, Sanitas Water and Sensemakers on behalf of the municipality of Amsterdam and Bureau Marineterrein.

The knowledge collected about new measuring methods and the detection of pollution is shared with other municipalities and institutions, so that water quality can also be improved elsewhere.