The question

How can the Rijnland District Water Control Board gain better insight into the water quality of the Katwijk swimming area and improve the current warning system?

The area around Katwijk has a warning system in place that uses a number of factors to indicate if the water is safe to swim in or if it is contaminated. The Rijndland Water Board wanted to confirm the accuracy of this current system and gain more insight into future water quality.

The approach

Having conducted in depth research into the factors that affect water quality, we created a model that would take into account influences on these factors. The model can predict whether the measurement would be above or below the limit value. We ran the new model alongside the existing warning system to test how accurate the current system was.

The solution

With smart visualizations and an initial forecasting model, we looked at whether the e. coli value was above the proscribed limit. These predictions were compared against the warning system to see if there was a major discrepancy between the model and the current system of the Rijnland District Water Control Board.

The impact

The conclusion was that the current warning system did its job well. A prediction model proved to have little added value.