The Rhine River

The Rhine, crossing six countries before reaching the North Sea, is the second-longest river in Central and Western Europe. The Delta of the Rhine starts at the German–Netherlands border, where the river splits into its two main branches, the Nederrijn and the Waal, before it enters the North Sea through the Rhine-Meuse Delta near Rotterdam.

The Evides Kralingen drinking water treatment plant (DWTP) in Rotterdam produces 36 million m³ of drinking water per year. Kralingen is Evides’s second-largest drinking water installation. The production of drinking water involves a six-step purification process, and the water is sourced from the Meuse/Maas River. Treatment sequence: filtration in a perforated grill (keeps out fish and particles bigger than 2 mm), flocculation and lamella clarifier, ozonation, double filtration (anthracite and sand), UV disinfection, activated carbon filtration, storage and distribution.

The Rhine case can be subdivided into two action areas:

1. The city and the port of Rotterdam
   • Detection
     Four methods are deployed at to quantify the waste problem and assess the performance of the clean-up solutions. Drone flights, sampling from a boat with Ferrybox and Mantanet and waste detection via smartphone apps (JRC Floating Litter app and EEA Marine LitterWatch app).
     
   • Collection
     Industrial waste, consumer waste and pellets will be removed in two ways. The CirCleaner will remove pellets (size range 2 mm – 5 mm) at the water surface and in the water columns up to 80 cm depth. Clean up actions will be organized with volunteers on the riverbank.
     
2. The drinking water production by Evides
   
   • Detection
     Ferrybox and Mantanet will be used to sample the plastics from a boat.
   • Collection
     At the drinking water production company Evides will focus on the removal of microplastics from the inlet at the drinking water production facilities by applying the Archimedean drum screw technology.