Considering
Dutch water engineers being associated with flood prevention, a most remarkable
event took place last week. In the southwest delta, where in 1953 the largest
and most recent flood disaster took place, large excavators cut away a part of
the embankment. With high tide, water from the Westerschelde now is able to flow
into a tidal floodplain of 75ha. Omroep Zeeland published a short movie about
this while also regional newspaper PZC had a report (link):
Cutting
away 400m of embankments finds its roots in the construction of a tunnel underneath
Westerschelde in 2003. The ferry connecting Zeeland’s Zuid-Beveland (island) with
Zeeuws-Vlaanderen (in connection with Belgium) now disappeared, leaving the
project area, known as Perkpolder, in a declining socio-economic state. In the
mid-2000s it was proposed to start re-developing the area, partly influenced by
the need to compensate damage to nature (the Westerschelde was to be dredged to
allow large ships entry into the harbour of Antwerp).
In formal
project documentation, the plan to de-polder the area is referred to as a ‘embankment
relocation’. While in fact this is true (the primary embankment is relocated land
inwards), the lowering and removal of the former embankment received a lot of criticism.
Many people do so by stating that it is unnatural to de-polder areas and cut
away dikes in a country located partly below sea level. Others state that,
having the 1953 in mind, this goes against common sense and breaks a decade-old
promise to protect Zeeland against floods. Nature organizations are blamed for
pushing their agenda.
While this
contested project is now reaching its closure, it is not the first, nor the
last de-poldering project in the Dutch delta. A project which is now underway,
the Noordwaard, concerns a polder measuring over 4000ha. It will partly be de-poldered
and will transport water from the river Merwede, when it level reaches a
certain height, through the polder towards the southwest delta. The restoration
of polder floods and tidal dynamics in the region is likewise framed as improving
ecological conditions of the surrounding Biesbosch wetlands. A paper can be downloaded via Water International, but for those without access may find the infographic interesting.
Other similar
projects are on-going, for example in the Onderdijkse Waard near Kampen, where
the embankments of the IJssel river are planned to be cut, and the Waterdunen
project, also in Zeeland. Bring in the Dutch, bring in the floods?
