5 November 2024 – Deltares collaborates with kids from the Comenius school in NL

This week, Deltares collaborated with childern from the Comenius school in Zeist, Netherlands, to investigate the water quality in their area using the their Aquality app.

Together, they discovered that:

• Clean river water enters Zeist in the south via the castle pond near school.
• Water with more nitrate (2.5 mg/l) and salinity (0,55mS/cm) leaves Zeist in the west back to the river.
• The source of the extra nitrate and salinity is effluent from the sewage water treatment plant.
• This purified sewage water contained 7,5 mg/l nitrate-N and had a salinity of 0,64 mS/cm.
• Water fleas only swam in the water without nitrate, showcasing how water quality affects biodiversity.

Thanks to teacher Kirstin Gros for organizing this educational day, and to the enthusiastic young scientists for their curiosity and cooperation!

This project, part of the NINFA Project, helped the students understand more about water systems and their impact on nature. Special thanks to Deltares expert Joachim Rozemeijer for supervising the activity and sharing his knowledge!