The Living Lab
This Living Lab is a collaboration of our team--Master’s students of Metropolitan, Analysis, Design and Engineering (MADE) a joint program of TUD, WUR and AMS Institute; The Great Bubble Barrier (TGBB) and Indymo. TGBB is a startup that strives to combat plastic pollution out of waterways through a bubble curtain technology which uses the natural flow of water. Indymo is a water resource management and water quality monitoring startup utilizing underwater drones.
With the insights and cooperation of the aforementioned partners, our Living Lab was formed to assess water quality in Amsterdam. Dubbed Venice of the North, Amsterdam is often characterized by its relation to water physically, culturally and economically. Even Amsterdam--with centuries of expertise and knowledge in water management, face threats of plastic pollution and climate change in its waterways. These detrimental consequences are the results of human induced activities. Therefore, water quality is an important focus area to constantly investigate and improve since water is essential for life, environmental health and everything in between.
​
So, the quest to measure water quality begun. The process was not always straightforward. We went through many days of brainstorming, discussions, evaluations, re-evaluations, and then circling back to the start. Pivotal moments in our process have been our documentary filmmaking process, a co-creation session, two field experiment days of measuring water quality and the impacts aeration had on water quality at Westerdok Bubble Barrier.
Documentary Filmmaking: We conducted 8 informal interviews to understand the relation of each interviewee had with the Bubble Barrier. This opened up dialogues with people and helped condense objective of our Living Lab into a narrative.
​
Co-creation Session: The session was held to gain insights on participants' soft expectations towards our Living Lab and compile it towards the direction of our end product. We were able to match the participants' priorities to the narrowed focus of our Living Lab--water quality and ecological health.
Field Experiment Day I (Measuring Water Quality): We collected water samples up and downstream of Westerdok Bubble Barrier. The samples were put in sterile containers and sent to a lab for further analysis. The parameters measured included water pH, salinity, water hardness, phosphates, nitrates, ammonium amongst others.
Field Experiment Day II (Measuring Impact of Aeration on Water Quality): With the help of Indymo, a live mapping of water at the Westerdok area using an automated surface vehicle was completed. The parameters measured by the automated surface vehicle included dissolved oxygen in water, oxygen saturation %, temperature and conductivity while providing GPS datapoints.
What happened next?
The first map shows the route followed by the Automated Surface Vehicle (ASV) when mapping the water at Westerdok. (Field Experiment Day II )
The second map shows the dissolved oxygen in water in mg/L. Note the imaginary diagonal trend line (bottom left to top right). It becomes apparent that the Bubble Barrier increases (and almost doubles) the amount of dissolved oxygen in water. That was better than expected! At the same time, dissolved oxygen upstram (left on the map) was lower than expected. around 5 mg/l means stressful conditions for fish! Read more about this here.
​
Other parameters where also measured, such as temperature [ºC], Conductivity [ms/cm] and oxygen saturation [%]. Water conductivity is a way to measure the ability of water to pass an electrical current. Because dissolved salts and other inorganic chemicals conduct electrical current, conductivity increases as salinity increases. (Environmental Protection Agency, 2021) .
​
Oxygen saturation [%] indicates the relation between the maximum amount of dissolved oxygen that water can hold vs the current amount of dissolved oxygen. Amongst other things, the amount of oxygen that a body of water can hold depends on temperature and salinity. The higher these values are, the lower the capacity of water to hold oxygen. The map is interactive. Hover over it or select any measurement point to display more data.
​
​
Do you want to learn more about bubbles, water quality and water aeration? Click here.
Of course this information would be of little value if there were no parameters to measure it against. Fortunately, Waternet provided us with a dataset with different measuring points across Amsterdam. We included other variables, such as phosphorus, pH or temperature of the water in the analysis. Hover over the map or click on any point to display more info. Remember you can zoom in and out!
​
We soon found out Oxygen impacts the water in many ways! For example NH3 and NH4 (Ammonia and Ammonium) hold a strict relation towards oxygen as can be seen on the map.
By the end of the Living Lab, a lot was understood about Amsterdams wishes to improve and maintain water quality as well as sustain healthy aquatic ecosystems. At the same time, the impact of the Bubble Barrier on water quality was put to the test and gave some insightful answers. Scroll down to read more.
The Product
A Decalogue
The Living Lab tackled water quality from the ecological and chemical stands. While some discoveries where fascinating, others gave room for improvement . It is also important to know that while taking a snapshot of the local water quality - Westerdok - may sound easy, interpreting results require to take a look at urban area of Amsterdam, where the matter becomes more complex and involves many variables and of exceptions. Here is the guideline for Water Quality improvement via the Bubble Barrier in Westerdok.
​
The Bubble Barrier at Westerdok, was able to rise oxygen levels from 4 mg/l to almost 8 mg/l . That alone was outstanding! However, to get an idea of ​​the water quality around Amsterdam, we can look at the hydrological system of Amsterdam and:
1) understand the water flow and the presence of different contaminants. In this sense the Bubble Barrier at Westerdok is not in the best position if water oxygenation and water quality improvement is to be achieved. Since the flow direction (although it may be bi-directional at times) usually behaves like the following map. If you want to go to the original resource, click here. (On the other hand, it is in a great location to catch plastics! Learn more about it here.
2.- Understand technical limitations & verify pressure drops or otherwise volume of air being pumped into the water. As a rule of thumb, the longer the tubing, the bigger the difference in air volume outlet. Although water had a higher oxygen level downstream (after the Bubble Barrier), the values where higher at the beginning of the tubing.
3.- When taking dynamic samples it is important to note that some "weird looking values" are not always wrong, but rather may be due to the difference in time or number of measures. As seen in the image below, there are a few hotspots which had more readings (water measuring was done once every 5 seconds with the ASV).
4.- Observe the temperature and don't get (extra) happy or sad about varying results. It works better when it's cold! Keeping the same settings for the bubble curtain will have less favourable results during summer than winter. Learn more about it here.
5.- The bubble curtain will not clean it all! but it can get rid of phosphorus, nitrates, co2, volatile compounds. Look at the map and the graph below. Notice how there is an inverse relation between phosphorus and oxygen in water. In this sense, for the placement of future bubble curtains, it is important to find a strategic location. Wether it is to tackle acidity, oxygen levels, excesive amount of nutrients...
6.- Define the parameters you wish to tackle with bubble curtains. Existing GIS data is useful towards monitoring different parameters and understanding where bubble curtains can be applicable. If one would like to promote water oxygenation, it would not make a lot of sense to start at the east of Amsterdam, since oxygen levels seem to be lower on the west side of Amsterdam.
7.- As mentioned earlier, some parameters or pollutants fall out of reach of the bubbles! While other parameters occur with specific conditions or are otherwise intermittent through the year. As can be seen in the following maps, (data taken from WKP and Rijskwaterstaat) .
See how through the year, the presence of ammonia in water varies. This can be explained by numerous reasons beyond the scope of bubbles.
8.-Rain may not always be good. While rain brings water flow and creates little turbulence on the surface of waterways promoting aeration, it also drags organic matter and other substances such as heavy metals or even sewage water. Values measured during rainy weather may widely vary from those in dry season.
Amsterdam has an extensive sewer network. The map shows that the mixed system (in yellow) is mainly located in the center. A separate sewer network has been installed in the neighborhoods outside the center. During an overflow situation, it can be assumed that there is temporarily a lot of harmful bacterial contamination in the water system. Find out more at Amsterdecks website.
9.- Further research into aquatic flora and fauna in relation to bubble curtains. Adjust bubble curtain's setting when possible to determine the most efficient setup: "Fish are an important part of our waters. A balanced and healthy ecosystem requires good and varied fish stocks. It is therefore important that the different fish species that we know in our country have a healthy living environment. In addition to ensuring good water quality in rivers, lakes and ditches, a free swimming passage is also crucial for many species." (onswater.nl)
10.- Help reach the goals! take advantage of the current Surface water quality European Water Framework Directive (2027). "Water quality is improving, but many waters will not meet the targets by 2027". The Bubble Barrier shows promising resutls!
Oxygen, water quality and biodiversity
​
Throughout the Living Lab it became clear that many measure are in place in regards to water quality in Amsterdam and and that water quality has improved steadily over the years...How are the canals now?
We see that increasing oxygen values ​​positively affects biodiversity and that the Bubble Barrier at Westerdok has a high oxygen transfer efficiency during cold periods.
There is still a way to go, however the implementation of bubble curtains offer new challenges and opportunities, to enhance water quality and biodiversity in Amsterdam. Do you want to access water quality datasets? Click here.