November 2016 141Y
ou can’t claim to really know a city
until you’ve had a conversation about
its sewage with an aquatic ecologist
from the local water board.
I’d not given much thought to what goes
on beneath Amsterdam before I met Laura
Moria in a coffee shop near the Anne Frank
House. Laura spends her life scrutinising
the canals, scooping and testing and doing
whatever aquatic ecologists do to keep tabs
on microscopic nasties. Until recently, it was
a job that required a strong stomach and a
nose peg. “The canals used to stink,” she tells
me. “They contained untreated sewage, and if
you fell in you’d be rushed off to hospital for a
tetanus jab.”
But the past decade has witnessed a
concerted push to clean things up. Thousands
of houseboats have finally been linked to the
sewer system, and a special vessel patrols
the channels with a net to skim off floating
rubbish. There’s even a boat dedicated to
hooking out the 12,000-odd bikes that are
chucked in the water annually.
The results have been dramatic — so
dramatic, in fact, that around 2,000 people
jump into the canals of their own accord
during the Amsterdam City Swim each
September. “Even our Queen has taken a
dip,” Laura says. The flora and fauna are
also flourishing in the purer water. Yellow
water lilies flower in summer, while water
fleas zip about eating algae and are in turn
gobbled up by fish that had previously given
the canals a wide berth. Pike, eels and carp
have all returned, along with the herons that
stalk them, and coots that dabble among the
reeds. There are bullhead fish, sponges and
mussels, and — Laura’s favourite — a snail
with a head like a smurf. It’s a smorgasbord
of life.
“Our tap water is filtered through the sand
dunes — you must try it,” Laura urges, as
she pays for her cappuccino. “Oh, and look
out for canal lobster on the menu,” she adds
cryptically over her shoulder before the door
closes and she’s gone.
Canal lobster?! While there’s a limit to how
exciting I can find the prospect of a good glass
of tap water, the mysterious canal lobster
sounds like something altogether more
enticing. I vow to track one down. But first
— a boat tour.ON THE WATER
If there are newfound riches hidden below
the surface, those above have been plain to
see for centuries. Amsterdam is a city built