Dirty locks in Heemstede will be clean again in a week: “No reason for concern”

Heemsteden residents can suffer from stench from the ditches in their neighborhood for another week. The Rijnland Water Board has started flushing the water in the Rivierenbuurt that is heavily polluted with fire extinguishing water. Research on water samples has now shown that there is in any case ‘no cause for concern’ about hazardous substances.

Because of the huge fire on September 12th in a bulb shed an enormous amount of polluted fire water ended up in the ditches in Heemstede. Since then there has been one dirty thick sludge on the surface. And sometimes it smells like sewer, it seems’an oily stuff‘ and fish will die in the sooty water.

To be sure, Rijnland took water samples to check what had ended up in the water. The connection to the Leidsevaart has been closed because the water board does not want too much ‘dead water’ circulating. The water samples show that there is “no cause for concern.”

Pump installation

That was the signal to set up a pump installation since yesterday to flush the ditches. This will probably take a week. “The gradual flushing may mean that there may still be some (stench) nuisance in the coming period. Also because rain is expected in the coming days. The advice to avoid contact with surface water will therefore remain in effect as long as the water is flushed”, Rijnland reports to local residents.

In addition to this measure, Rijnland will also continue to monitor water quality in the coming week.

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