Water quality

IUVA World Congress 2021

14 June 2021 — Every two years the International UV Association (IUVA) organizes a world congress. Last year, due to Covid, the...

Blog Patrick Smeets on WASH emergency response in Equatorial Guinea

10 June 2021 — Looking out my window through the palm trees at the ocean, it’s hard to realise that on 7...

Assessment framework to involve stakeholders in asset management

01 June 2021 — The sector study ‘360° stakeholder management’ systematically mapped out and analysed stakeholder involvement in three practical cases in...

Deltafact Biocides: no clear picture as yet of impact on water quality

17 May 2021 — For water managers there is still only limited knowledge available about biocides and their impact on water quality,...

Development of a water-quality sensor

Large volumes of water are used all over the world for a variety of processes which generate large...

Quick picture of microbial water quality

Microbial water quality is an important element in determining the safety of water for humans, animals, plants and...

Hazards of consumer products to the water cycle

30 March 2021 — An investigation of twenty types of consumer products makes it clear that we are still far from the...

World Water Day 2021: Valuing Water

22 March 2021 — A team of more than 20 KWR colleagues signed up to join the World Water Run from 16-22...

Sources and effects of microplastics in water still not sufficiently known

22 February 2021 — The Deltafact Microplastics of the Chain Explorer, a project within the Water Quality Knowledge Impulse programme, was recently...

Milo de Baat PhD

Milo de Baat is a researcher in the Chemical Water Quality and Health team. His activities focus on...

‘New regulatory and legal framework for water reuse calls for an interdisciplinary approach’

05 January 2021 — In 2020 the European Union approved a legislative proposal on the requirements for water reuse in irrigation applications.

Intelligent data acquisition method is a prize-winner

16 November 2020 — The identification of toxic compounds in drinking water is an important issue for the drinking water sector. KWR...

Instruments – Laboratory for Materials Research and Chemical Analysis

The Laboratory for Materials Research and Chemical Analysis is equipped with specialised instruments, the most important of which...

Highly polar compounds – II

The monitoring of highly polar compounds – particularly in low concentrations (ng/L range) – presents a great challenge.

Hazardous Substance Incident Control Week

07 October 2020 — This week the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management is holding the ‘hazardous material incident control week’. During...

Water Wise: Decision-support system for safe water-use and water-reuse cycles

15 September 2020 — KWR has developed Water Wise, a concept to meet the need for a simple-to-use, transparent and consistent tool...

Circular Rain

With Circular Rain we are investigating an innovative storage, purification and use of rainwater. By buffering and simultaneously...

Identifying contaminations with numerical source-determination

The Dutch drinking water utilities abide by the legal provisions for monitoring the microbial quality of drinking water...

Seasonal influences of surface water on fouling potential in UF

The link between seasonal changes in the quality of surface waters and the operation of a membrane plant...

The effect of water quality on leaching in pipes containing cement

In order to limit the leaching of asbestos cement and the cement contained in pipes, the Dutch Drinking...

Successful application of umu test in KWR laboratories

10 June 2020 — KWR disposes of advanced laboratories for research into the quality of drinking water and drinking water sources. Our...

Christie Stuut-Klaucke MSc

Christie Stuut is an experienced marketing and communications consultant. Her expertise lies in the field of positioning, strategic...

Non-target screening: quantitative and on time

The confident identification of a compound followed by accurate quantification of its concentration in a water sample is...

Chain Explorer – fewer emissions

If it isn’t in the water, you won’t need to remove it. Besides end-of-pipe measures aimed at improving...

Water-quality map

A water-quality map allows one to determine the combined effects of emissions from various sources on the level...

Acquired habits and new solutions

14 January 2020 — At the end of 2019, researchers in the Behavioural Knowledge project, part of the Water Quality Impulse, invited...

Healthy soil, healthy water system

The properties of the soil have a major influence on drought sensitivity and leaching into groundwater, for instance,...

Leaching of the geochemical buffer capacity in the subsurface

The geochemical buffer capacity of the subsurface assists in breaking down pollutants before they reach drinking water abstraction...

Cocktail of Substances (RIWA-Meuse)

RIWA Maas collects large amounts of water quality data at a number of locations, both in the Netherlands...

Distribution experts from Europe and the US look behind each other’s scenes

09 December 2019 — Over the last two years, experts and researchers from Europe and the US have had the opportunity to...

International Groundwater Quality Conference (GQ19)

24 September 2019 — Last week, the news was all about the deterioration of Dutch groundwater quality and the resulting stress on...

Nutrients: which agricultural measures make sense?

This project is part of the Water Quality Knowledge Impulse. Agriculture plays a major part in the nutrient...

Behavioural knowledge: dealing differently with water

This project is part of the Water Quality Knowledge Impulse. Water quality is not only a matter for...

Toxicity: effect-directed water-quality measurement

This project is part of the Water Quality Knowledge Impulse. More than 140,000 chemical compounds are produced, used...

What is the status of plastics in water?

11 July 2019 — It was recently reported on the news that people ingest a teaspoon, that is 5 grams, of microplastics...

Looking for a needle in a haystack? Non-target screening

02 July 2019 — Recent developments in analytical chemistry in combination with data handling appear to be a major gain for the...

Quick picture of water quality

Because of the rapidly growing reuse of water in greenhouse horticulture, there is an increasing need to have...

Water reuse and the freshwater provision

We are confronted more and more with increasing drought damage in agriculture and nature. There is growing pressure...

As Hong Kong grows, so does demand for better water infrastructure

23 April 2019 — From 8-10 April I visited Hong Kong together with Idsart Dijkstra, Water Systems and Technology manager, and Prof.

Radical new sources of drinking water

The drinking water provision in the Netherlands makes use of fresh groundwater and fresh surface water as its...

Knowledge valorisation

This project is part of the Water Quality Knowledge Impulse programme. The knowledge acquired in the Knowledge Impulse...

Water Quality Knowledge Impulse launched

05 April 2019 — The water quality in large parts of the country has clearly improved over the last few years, but...

Knowledge exchange on environmental incident response in China

07 January 2019 — The week before Christmas 2018 I joined a mission of the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management...

Joep van den Broeke

Joep van den Broeke is a senior researcher and project manager in the Innovation and Valorisation team. Drawing...

DPWE Workshop: Water Quality and Sources

13 November 2018 — On November 5th I attended a DPWE mini workshop in Castricum at the visitors center of PWN.

Water Quality Knowledge Impulse: room for acceleration

30 October 2018 — The participants in the Water Quality Knowledge Impulse are the national government, provinces, Water Authorities, water utilities, knowledge...

WHO Meeting underscores importance of achieving SDG 6

24 October 2018 — KWR was present at the WHO High Level Meeting and Technical Workshop on Water Safety and SDG 6...

Quickly measuring after work on network

When water utilities carry out work on their distribution networks, there is a risk that dirt, which might...

Peer Timmers

Peer Timmers is trained in microbial ecophysiology. He applies as broad a range of chemical and molecular biological...

Bioanalytical tools: state-of-the-science

18 September 2018 — The aim of the 11th BioDetectors conference 2018 was to bring together scientists involved in the development and...

Tessa Pronk

Tessa Pronk is a scientific researcher in the Chemical Water Quality and Health team. She has a broad...

Exploring standard tests for effect-measurements for chemical water quality

Neurotoxicity is the occurrence of adverse effects on the nervous system. Particularly during its early-development stages, the brain...

Growing interest in the business community in water quality

25 June 2018 — Water quality has been attracting lots of media attention lately. The business community is also expressing growing interest...

Useful UK-Dutch exchanges in the first 6 months of WatQual

20 June 2018 — Within the WatQual project, researchers from universities visit industry in another country and vice versa to study water...

Health relevance of contaminants of emerging concern in drinking water

19 June 2018 — New substances are being constantly produced and used, and also ending up in the groundwater and surface water...

Wat-Qual

Safe drinking water is paramount for the health and wellbeing of all populations. Unsafe drinking water can contain...

KWR to advise the State of Michigan in Flint research dispute

In October 2017 KWR conducted a scoping mission for the State of Michigan in the US to get...

How can we achieve excellent water quality?

22 February 2018 — Good water quality is extremely important for an ecologically healthy water system. Despite the fact that the water...

Area-focused national-regional collaboration to tackle nutrients

The European Water Framework Directive (WFD) formulates objectives concerning good water quality. These include an approach to the...

KWR again WHO Collaborating Center Water Quality & Health

15 November 2017 — WHO has again designated KWR as a Collaborating Centre on Water Quality and Health. Over the next four...

Symposium Pharmaceuticals in the Environment

13 November 2017 — On October 27, the network for environmental professionals VVM organized the symposium ‘Green Pharmacy’ on pharmaceuticals in the...

The Clean Water Experiment

In this citizen science research project, initiated by Deltares, Wageningen University, KWR, Waternet, Regional Public Water Authority Amstel,...

Research into microplastics in Dutch water

07 September 2017 — On 6 September The Guardian published an article on research into plastic fibres in tap water. The...

About my first time ‘interactive vlogging’

05 July 2017 — Presenting at conferences is exciting. Sometimes I travel far and meet interesting new people. Like last November, when...

Looking for citizen scientists for Amsterdam water research

30 June 2017 — What does the water in the canal smell of today? Is the Sloterplas lake water really so clean...

Urban Waterbuffer now also in practice

19 May 2017 — How can we retain rainwater in the subsurface of urban areas longer and more effectively? And can we...

Remineralisation of RO permeate

Oasen is working on the full-stream treatment of, among others, river-bank filtrate using RO, which entails the complete...

Water4India project contributes to a better drinking water provision for rural India

10 April 2017 — In the short term, the drinking water provision in rural India can most benefit from the use of...

Forensic hydrology: Detecting traces in groundwater

22 March 2017 — Water contains a large number of dissolved substances. These include all non-synthetic elements and many synthetic organic micropollutants,...

Shale Gas and Water

Before the Netherlands can initiate shale gas extraction, answers must be given to the question of the possible...

AquaNES

Water scarcity, excess water in cities and micro-pollutants in the water cycle are challenges for now and the...

KWR contribution to the GWRC bioassay workshop

23 February 2017 — GWRC organized a workshop to get insight in the developments in bioassay applications and the aims and needs...

Joan Rose lectures at KWR on the importance of genomics for the water sector

19 January 2017 — On 16 January, Joan B. Rose of Michigan State University and Stockholm Water Prize winner, paid a visit...

The Urban Waterbuffer

Urban areas are increasingly faced with temporary flooding caused by heavy rainfall, or water shortages due to longer...

Urban Waterbuffer gives value to excess rainwater

22 December 2016 — Urban areas increasingly face flooding due to intense rainfall, as well as water shortages due to long droughts.

Knowledge institutes join forces for clean and healthy water

16 November 2016 — Alterra, Deltares, KWR and the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) are going to strengthen...

Milou Dingemans PhD

Milou Dingemans works as Chief Science Officer of KWR and as a researcher and toxicologist in the Chemical...

Joan Rose appointed KWR Honorary Fellow

11 October 2016 — The prominent international researcher, Joan Rose, was appointed KWR Honorary Fellow on 11 October during the congress of...

Meeting on drones: opportunities and risks for water companies

The objective of the meeting is to inform you about the current use and future possible applications of...

INTEREST: rules of thumb for costs and returns of sensor networks in drinking water distribution

10 October 2016 — Sensor networks allow us to monitor drinking water more comprehensively and detect contaminants more effectively. However, we need...

Rapid optical detection of enterococci in surface water possible

23 September 2016 — A rapid method for enterococci detection in surface water has been developed which could contribute to more efficient...

KWR’s labs at WoTS 2016: ‘The microworld of water’

15 September 2016 — Looking for a needle, not in a haystack but in water. That’s what we do well at KWR.

Developments in water quality at surface water intake points for drinking water supply

Future developments in water quality at surface water intake points for drinking water supply constitute the key climate-change...

Laboratory for Materials Research and Chemical Analysis

The Laboratory for Materials Research and Chemical Analysis at KWR (NEN-EN-ISO/IEC 17025 en NEN-EN-ISO/IEC 17043 accredited, registration numbers...

Microbiology laboratory

The Laboratory for Microbiology at KWR (NEN-EN-ISO/IEC 17025 and NEN-EN-ISO/IEC 17043 accredited, registration numbers L479 and R005, respectively)...

Improving water quality prognosis at surface water intake points for drinking water supply

In an earlier project, ‘Developments in water quality at surface water intake points for drinking water supply’, prognoses...

Michiel Hootsmans PhD MSc

Michiel Hootsmans is a senior researcher in aquatic ecology. In this position, he is in charge of the...

Stefan Kools PhD

Stefan Kools works at KWR as a researcher and team leader. He has more than 20 years’ experience...

Arnaut van Loon PhD MSc

Arnaut van Loon is a wide-ranging hydrogeologist, who is active as a researcher and project manager in the...

Paul van der Wielen PhD

Paul van der Wielen is Principal Scientist in the field of (micro)biological activity in water in man-made water...

Mirjam Blokker PhD

Mirjam Blokker is a Principal Scientist on the Drinking Water Infrastructure team. She is an expert in drinking...

Patrick Bäuerlein PhD

Patrick Bäuerlein is a chemical researcher in the Chemical Water Quality and Health team, and his main field...

Joint Research Programme with the water utilities

The challenge for water utilities is to provide sufficient, safe as well as healthy drinking water. Water utilities...

KWR is looking for Amsterdam residents for drinking water research

25 April 2016 — In the ‘Water Freshness’ field trial citizens will be participating for the first time as researchers in scientific...

Water4India: KWR introduces new sampling and analysis methods in India

29 March 2016 — From 5 to 15 March three KWR analysts were in India to contribute to the EU’s Water4India project,...

Monitoring fish populations, migration and water quality through environmental DNA

02 March 2016 — This spring research gets underway into an innovative manner, through ‘fish DNA’ in the water, of monitoring the...

Cooperating knowledge institutes: ‘Biomonitoring could be faster, more reliable and cheaper’

12 January 2016 — In March 2015, Naturalis Biodiversity Center and KWR Watercycle Research Institute sealed their agreement to become preferred partners...

European TAPES project concludes in Brussels

30 September 2015 — On 24 September 2015, over 50 participants attended the closing conference of the Interreg programme’s Transnational Action Program...

DEMEAU conclusion: bioassays add great value in determining water quality

10 September 2015 — The three-year DEMEAU project was concluded in September 2015. KWR led the consortium, comprising 17 members from 5...