Negative swimming advice in The Hague after discharge of waste water

For almost the entire coast of The Hague, a negative swimming advice applies for at least this Tuesday. The water can cause stomach and intestinal complaints after wastewater was discharged into the sea on Monday. Which reports the municipality.

The discharge was the result of the power outage that Monday affected large parts of The Hague and lasted from 11:30 in the morning until 19:00 in the evening. As a result, the wastewater treatment of the Delfland Water Board was also stopped and wastewater could not be purified.

Read more about Monday’s news: Power outage in large parts of The Hague

In the afternoon shouted the Water Board The residents of The Hague are already careful with water. Initially, only small amounts of waste water were discharged, which, according to the Water Board, posed ‘no risk’. Sewage pumping stations also came to a standstill, causing waste water to be discharged into the surface water.

Limited emergency facilities

A spokesperson says that the treatment plant has only limited emergency facilities: waste water can be collected for eight hours and a power outage usually no longer lasts. Monday it took until half past twelve in the morning for the treatment plant to work again.

The Central Holland Environment Agency had already issued a negative swimming advice for the area around the port around 10:30 in the evening. This now applies to the entire Zuider- en Noorderstrand to the Zwarte Pad, past the Pier.

This Tuesday, Rijkswaterstaat is investigating the water for E-coli and intestinal enterococci, the so-called poop bacteria. Only when the values ​​are favorable can you swim again.

The Water Board reports that the discharge is “not harmful to marine life”.

Correction (August 18, 2020): An earlier version of this message stated that a swimming ban applies. That must be negative swimming advice and has been adjusted.

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