Duyvis bag

The uttermost popular diving spot Vinkeveen. When talking about diving it is one of the most famous places in Holland. It is ideal for training and new divers but also for the more experienced divers there is a lot to do and see in Vinkeveen. But is it really as good as we imagine? How much seen and unseen pollution is there? Where does it come from and what is done against it? In this report I am going to state the truth.

Chips basket.

Not only is Vinkeveen a very popular diving spot it is also used as recreation area. It is used by divers, people with boats, people on bicycles, there is a beach and a beautiful environment to walk. Al those people must be a terrible polluters to the water in the Vinkeveense plassen. Although you would expect that divers would be the biggest polluters because they are the nearest to the water it turned out not to be so.

Although divers do pollute a lot, they don’t cause the biggest pollution. Most divers have heard of the bus in Vinkeveen. If not the bus (shown on the picture below) is a bus that is sunk down on purpose. Before entering the water the bus was cleaned from all kinds of toxic material. Though the bus is made from a metal which rusts. So do the lead belts of divers. Though not only is the bus placed there for the pleasure and interest of the divers it is also the home to a pike which grew to an abnormal large size.

Most pollution however is not caused by divers and there “underwater toys”. Most of the found pollution is caused by boats and their owners. When diving underwater you come across a lot of chips baskets, soda cans and other party rubbish (shown on the two pictures above). Not only the rubbish which is thrown overboard is polluting also the oil and other toxic chemicals dumped from the boats is polluting to the water.

Although the soda cans are not so enormously polluting in small amounts, they form a hinder for divers. They are ugly and take a long time before they have decay. Though some fish use it as a new environment. They lay their eggs in the can or use it as their home and shelter.

There will always be pollution every where you look. Acting against it is necessary but not always sufficient. Though in Vinkeveen a lot of Soda cans are found, there is a lot of evidence that it is not so polluted as we may think. To find measurements to oppose the idea of severe pollution in Vinkeveen we must first know where to look. Obvious is the evidence of pollution. Soda cans, oil floating on the water, dead fish and less visible but not less important the acidity of the water. It is all easily found by testing the water, by taking a water sample and put in a ph indicator.

However to find evidence to support the idea of clean water in the Vinkeveense plassen is not so difficult to find either. Certain types of fishes who use vision to hunt are commonly spotted in Vinkeveen. Fishes such as “zoetwater donderpadjes” small fish who are highly sensitive to pollution, still find their home in the water. Also the very sensitive and rare plant ‘krans wier’ can be found in the water (see picture). The plates that are placed underwater at a depth of both 12 and 9 meter is a hard underground for fish, and is frequently used as a resting place for pikes.

6	10,8%	4 votes
5	10,8%	4 votes
4	10,8%	4 votes
3	37,8%	14 votes
2	13,5%	5 votes
1	10,8%	4 votes
7	5,4%	2 votes

An questionnaire has been placed on hyves and according to regular visitors to the Vinkeveense plassen it is not so polluted at all. Although most divers do find it disturbing to find soda cans on the sea bed thrown overboard by boats.

It can be stated though that pollution is not taking an overflow in Vinkeveen yet. Is enough done though to prevent pollution from taking the overhand in the future?

In the past few years the city council of the province Utrecht has done all it could to act when pollution was found. No costs were saved when on the 5^th of June in 1999 an oil leak was discovered. The city council placed fences and isolated the oil to prevent it from leaking into the water. Though the city council did everything it could to prevent the water from getting polluted they found in resent tests a campylobacter. Though the water quality in Vinkeveen is stated as “good” by the official bureau of health. To prevent the water from getting polluted the city council has addressed an agency to provide lessons for children to make them more aware of the Vinkeveense plassen. They’re active in making children understand what they can do against pollution. But also adults are involved in the teachings. In this way they hope to keep the district clean.

Annelieke Mooy