Floating probe goes "to the bottom" of the Aasee

This week, the Bocholt Aasee was technically surveyed. Two employees of the company RiverDynamics from Hamburg examined the water with a motorized probe. With the help of the data, a model of the riverbed will be created and existing vegetation will be recorded.

From a distance, the "RiverBoat" from the Hamburg-based company RiverDynamics most closely resembles a large bright orange water insect. In the midday sun, it slowly moves up and down in straight lanes on the Aasee in Bocholt. What is not visible at first glance: With the help of state-of-the-art technology, the remote-controlled watercraft is creating a precise image of the bottom of the Bocholt Aasee.

The data will later help to plan and coordinate further measures to improve the water quality. For this purpose, the probe's data will be combined with site data to create an image of the bottom of the water body. The measure has already been planned for several weeks, the city of Bocholt informs. The last time the Aasee was surveyed was six years ago - at that time, however, without the detection of fouling.

"If the sludge density permits, the sludge thickness on the bottom of the Aasee will be recorded in addition to the fouling," explains Benedikt Sommer from the municipal waste disposal and service company (ESB). Managing director Lukas Klatt and his colleague Timo Nischik spend one and a half days on the Aasee with the remote-controlled probe.

More information on the measuring procedure is available at www.riverdynamics.de.