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#Klima & Luft|  4 Min.

From the Inside Out

Environment, Water, Infrastructure: Getting To the Bottom of Things for the Water of Our Ports.

At the Kesselschleuse, about 1 km ahead of the entrance to the Interior Port of Emden, Janis Habdank is meeting with two stakeholder representatives from the INTERREG project NON-STOP. This unique edifice connects four waterways that flow together at this point, each having a different water level. 
For Janis Habdank, the ‘joining forces’ of the foursquare lock represent a perfect analogy for his research project NON-STOP, which is all about exciting synergy effects.

Janis Habdank has been with NPorts since the end of 2019, forging ahead with Emden's pilot project in his role as the project manager.
The basic premise is that we, as port infrastructure operator, must maintain the necessary water depths in its ports to keep them navigable. The required dredging measures to accomplish this are associated with high costs and energy consumption. “Therefore, the NON-STOP project has made it its mission to develop a smart sediment and water management concept for the Port of Emden”, Janis Habdank explains. “It is meant to reduce the overall need for (and volume of) dredging through tighter coordination of the participants and facilities and the deployment of digital technologies in and around the port, thus securing the long-term access to the port.”
Because, on the one hand, the sluicing of vessels and the operation of pumps continue to introduce sediment-laden seawater into the port. On the other hand, the inland is in need of new strategies for the increased, weather-related floodwaters.
“Climate change is responsible for more and more cloudburst events, raining down onto Emden's hinterland. Therefore, the study is also investigating the possibility to strategically utilize the fresh water inflow from the hinterland into the port, in order to reduce the amount of activation of the port pumping station and to decrease the influx of sediment-laden water from the River Ems”, Janis Habdank. “One of the questions we ask in this project is whether or not the inland floodwater management can be supported by an increased water intake into the Interior Port of Emden, and what benefit we as a port company may gain from it.”
  
It should be pointed out that copious amounts of mud-laden water end up in the Port of Emden via the River Ems. This leads to a large-scale accumulation of fluid mud in the Interior Port. In order to avoid constant dredging, we have successfully been utilizing the recirculation process, which keeps the fluid mud suspended instead of letting it sink down to the bed of the port basin.

 

Re-Circulation Process

 

It is of the essence that the functioning of this important principle is not impaired by an increased introduction of water into the Interior Port. The introduction of more fresh water into our largely brackish Interior Port could impair the micro-biological environment for the bacteria. It is a question that we are trying to simulate and research in a lab setting.“ 
To research the interplay of water introduction, microbiology, and fluid mud, we intend to produce sensor-based data at different measuring points within the port that will generate a complete picture of the status quo. “The long-term capture of data affords us an insight into the potential effects of drainage from the country’s interior in terms of bacterial activity and fluid mud. This means that we can intervene, when necessary, and that we can come to sustainable decisions regarding the management of the water.”

To the environment and water manager, there are multiple perspectives, from which the NON-STOP project is sustain-able: “Primarily, we would like to find out how to utilize natural processes better to sustain port operation and to create relief for the region. Only when we understand the environment better, can we help it deal with the changes.”
That is why the cooperation on a regional and international level is an effective factor in the knowledge process. On a European level of the INTERREG network, Janis Habdank can see decisive benefits from concentrating the resources: “Learn from each other and get ahead together: The digitization sector reveals to us the hidden potentials we can tap into. With that in mind, cooperation is extremely beneficial.”

 

 

 

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