The Great Bubble Barrier relies on data from Nortek current profiler
- User stories
The Great Bubble Barrier's most recent bubble barrier, installed in the Harlinger Van Harinxmakanaal in the Netherlands, relies on data from Nortek Netherlands' River Insight service. River Insight uses Nortek ADCPs to provide river discharge data, which The Great Bubble Barrier uses to optimize the performance of the bubble barrier.
Removing plastic from waterways
Dutch rivers, canals and waterways transport about 27 kg of plastic bags, tires, paint particles and other small plastics to the sea each day. During this process, plastics break down into microplastics which can accumulate in sediment and threaten the marine food chain, including humans.
Improving the cleanliness of waterways in the Netherlands is a primary goal of water authorities. Clean surface water is necessary to maintain shipping passages and fresh drinking water, and must be achieved in a cost-effective way that does not disrupt natural hydrology. The Bubble Barrier aims to address these challenges.
''You can think of the Bubble Barrier as an underwater curtain,'' explains Louis Le Duc, Research and Development Engineer at The Great Bubble Barrier. ''A Bubble Barrier consists of a diagonal tube at the bottom with small holes, which creates air bubbles when compressed air is blown through it. These bubbles float to the surface by upward pressure, taking plastic with them.''
Le Duc explains that the diagonal positioning of the tube ensures plastic is pushed to the side of the waterway where it can be easily collected.
Nortek's River Insight service and the Bubble Barrier in Harlingen
The bubble curtain was installed in the municipality of Harlingen in May of 2024 in an effort to safeguard the Wadden Sea from microplastic pollution. The Wadden Sea is a World Heritage Site and is a key habitat for fish species and millions of migratory birds.
To optimize insights from the bubble curtain, the system in the Van Harinxmakanaal also relies on information from Nortek Netherlands' River Insight discharge data as a service program. The Nortek Netherlands team uses a Nortek 2D Profiler ADCP along with a pressure sensor and other technology to measure discharge: the number of liters of water that pass through a waterway in a given amount of time. The team uses a River Insight station to provide The Great Bubble Barrier with real-time current measurements and information about the water level in the channel.
The team can remotely monitor the water system, improving monitoring, minimizing maintenance and ensuring the Bubble Barrier is operating in an energy-efficient manner.
Continued scientific research
Collaboration between The Great Bubble Barrier and local partners and scientific institutions are key for continuing to develop innovative ways to maintain clean waterways. Continual improvement of the technology will require testing, modeling and analysis.
The Great Bubble Barrier works with local partners to continually monitor Bubble Barrier projects for at least a year after they are installed to measure the effectiveness of the barrier. Continued research also allows the team to refine the technical functionality of the bubble barriers.
Filtering plastics out of Dutch waterways is becoming an increasingly important issue, and innovative solutions like The Great Bubble Barrier, paired with local partners like the Nortek Netherlands team, will be key to maintaining clean and healthy waterways for years to come.
