News

In recent years, the salt marshes of the Wadden Sea have slowly been expanding again. However, the ecological quality of these areas is under pressure. There is decreasing variation in vegetation and development stages. This is problematic, as European and international agreements aim to improve the condition of these dynamic coastal ecosystems.

Last Sunday, a train derailed in Germany due to a landslide caused by heavy rainfall. Three people were killed and dozens were injured. This raises the question: could something like this happen in the Netherlands? And how can we gain a better understanding of the current condition of railway embankments in order to prevent such accidents as much as possible?

Ten leading knowledge institutions, including Deltares, KNMI, MARIN, NLR, RIVM, TNO, Wageningen Research, Naturalis, NFI and RCE, are joining forces and realising DigiLab Applied Knowledge in close cooperation. This programme, supported by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, focuses on setting up a innovative, digital research facility.

For the first time, a harvest has been taken at the world's first seaweed farm located within the boundaries of an offshore wind farm. Located off the Dutch coast in the North Sea and in between wind turbines, this farm is an important milestone in multi-use of offshore wind farms. North Sea Farmers, Deltares, Plymouth Marine Laboratory and Silvestrum Climate Associates are investigating the future for seaweed farming.

The water temperatures of the Rhine are rising. This is shown by an analysis carried out by our experts and that of the German Federal Institute of Hydrology (BfG) on behalf of the International Commission for the Protection of the Rhine (ICPR). Effects on ecology and the economy are already being observed and will intensify in the future.

Deltares, Utrecht University, Oxford University, Wageningen University, TU Delft, University of Southampton and University of East Anglia have jointly developed a new framework that identifies the key drivers of change in deltas worldwide. The results of their research were published in Nature Climate Change today.

Shoreface nourishment – depositing sand below the waterline to counter coastal erosion – is one of the measures used to protect vulnerable coastal areas. This approach is used widely, particularly where large amounts of sand are available. Despite years of field measurements, laboratory experiments and model studies, the effect of shoreface nourishment is still difficult to predict and more knowledge is needed. This is the conclusion of researchers from Deltares, Twente University, Utrecht University, Delft University of Technology, Rijkswaterstaat, the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, and Technical University of Denmark in their new study.

From 10 to 13 June 2025, UNESCO celebrated the 50th anniversary of its Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme (IHP) at its headquarters in Paris. This milestone event brought together global leaders in water science to reflect on five decades of progress and to shape the future of sustainable water management. Deltares was honoured to take part in this important occasion, which also marked 60 years of UNESCO’s commitment to advancing water sciences.

Will swimming, surfing, or a day at the beach make us more likely to get ill in the future? Climate change affects so-called pathogens such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites. The European project BlueAdapt is investigating whether we can already start preparing based on current knowledge. The focus is on gaining more insight into Europe’s coastal regions.

As part of the North Sea Two (NS2) project, Oceans of Energy, Deltares, TNO, and DNV carried out unique testing, simulating North Sea wave conditions in the Deltares Delta Flume. The results, available in a newly-published white paper, offer validations for structural performance for floating solar systems with solar modules at the seawater-level and recommendations to industry experts on the next steps towards certification of offshore solar.

The energy transition, cleaner water, healthy soils and less greenhouse gases: the Netherlands is facing far-reaching challenges. Meeting them requires an in-depth understanding of exactly what is happening in our soil and our water. In the Delta-lab at Deltares in Delft, which opened today, experts look at how pollutants behave on a microscopic level, how greenhouse gases are released from wet soils and the effect of sustainable energy generation on groundwater and soil.

Where are fresh and saline groundwater located and at what depth? And where are the clay layers that protect the underlying groundwater? This is important information for provincial authorities, water managers, water authorities, farmers and nature managers. To establish a picture, measurements will be made with a helicopter from August this year until February next year in the southern, western and northern Netherlands.