At the Noorder- en Zuiderstrand and Zwarte Pad in Scheveningen, The Hague, negative swimming advice has been in effect since Monday evening. Because of a major power failure In parts of the city, the pumping station stopped and the sewage water had to be discharged into the North Sea, the municipality reports Tuesday.
People who want to swim in the water have a high risk of stomach and intestinal complaints. The rescue brigade in The Hague reported on Monday evening that a swimming ban had been imposed immediately around both jetties, because the water treatment plant had been affected by the power outage and it had been decided to have it overfilled.
During the power failure, the waste water could not be purified. Because the power outage lasted so long, more wastewater had to be dumped than previously thought.
The sewage water is not harmful to marine life, the Delfland Water Board reports. Rijkswaterstaat will monitor water quality from Wednesday. It is still unknown how long the negative swimming advice will apply.
On this website people can see when swimming is allowed again.
Thousands of households without electricity for more than eight hours
The power outage occurred on Monday around 11 a.m. in the center of The Hague, Scheveningen and Duindorp. In total, 37,000 households were affected. The problem was solved by noon for 4,700 households. The other households were without electricity for a total of about eight hours.
Due to the outage, some shops in the center of The Hague decided to close their doors, because, for example, the cash registers and ATMs no longer worked. The municipality was also temporarily unavailable via the service number 14070.
The problems with the power supply were resolved around 7 p.m. and customers were reconnected in each district. Solving the malfunction took longer than expected, because the damage turned out to be greater than initially thought.
–
