Royal HaskoningDHV: Field Study to Improve Eems-Dollard Ecosystem

A large-scale field study to understand the complex processes in the transition area from the Ems River towards the UNESCO listed Wadden Sea is set to begin today, Royal HaskoningDHV said in its latest release. 

“This knowledge is very much needed in the assessment of the effectiveness of large measures in reducing the water turbidity. The study is part of the Eems-Dollard 2050 program and will investigate how mud behaves in the transition between fresh river water and salty sea water,” according to the announcement.

The research is led by Rijkswaterstaat and coordinated by Royal HaskoningDHV, in collaboration with German authorities and international research institutions. The turbidity study will take place in the Ems estuary on the border of the Netherlands and Germany.

Charlotte Schmidt, a spokesperson of Rijkswaterstaat, said: “This is a complex project which has brought together research teams from the Netherlands and further afield to study the ways we can reduce river turbidity to protect estuary ecosystems. We have also collaborated with German parties due our joint need in both Dutch and German water management.

“We also work with specialist technical universities Delft, Twente and Wageningen and research institutes such as Deltares who are involved for advice, scientific interpretation and some field measurements.”

The first round of measurements will be carried out when there is predicted low discharge in the Ems River from 9 August to 7 September 2018, during which the first 13-hour measurement with the ships will take place on 28 August.

The second round of measurements will take place when there is predicted high river discharge of the Ems River in January/February 2019. Following this, the first set of results are expected to be announced in the summer of 2019.