Background info: embankments in the Netherlands

Besides a random online search for pictures about Dutch embankments, the Rijkswaterstaat Beeldbank offers a search function which yields over 15000 hits on the term ‘dijk’ (embankment/levee).

Source: Beeldbank Rijkswaterstaat

In 2015 a book on the history of Dutch dikes was published, which is a full inventory of embankments constructed all over the Netherlands. It was also issued in English and as an e-book. The video on this website gives a short preview of the book. A short and interesting blog posting chronologically summarizes periods in Dutch river management, while there are many books available that go into this topic. Gerard van de Ven’s ‘Man-made lowlands. History of water management and land reclamation in the Netherlands’ and Alex van Heezik’s ‘Battle over the rivers. Two hundred years of river policy in the Netherlands’ are two well-known examples, which can be found here and here.

The future of Dutch embankments is receiving substantial attention from different angles. The Delta Programme focusses on embankment strengthening and heightening within a climate adaptation context. The Room for the River Programme (nearly completed) also included river widening and embankment removal (or de-poldering). Recently moves were made to consider Dutch embankments as cultural heritage. 

Background info: Oosterschelde storm surge barrier

Besides a random online search for pictures about the Oosterschelde storm surge barrier, a dedicated website provides images as well as basic historical background about the delta works. It offers a subpage in English on the barrier itself, as well as a virtual tour (also available here) over/through the barrier’s interior.

This kind of information mainly functions as promotion material, and does not critically go into the socio-political dimensions of the dam. The decision to construct the dam in the first place, the resistance that rose against those plans, and the alternatives in terms of design are lively described by Paul de Schipper in his book ‘De slag om de Oosterschelde’ (the battle about the Oosterschelde). Unfortunately his account is written in Dutch, but several academic scholars, including Wiebe Bijker and Cornelis Disco have investigated political and scientific particularities of the structure in English. Their articles can be found here and here. 

 Source: Beeldbank Rijkswaterstaat

 Source: Beeldbank Rijkswaterstaat

Chris de Stoop: into de-poldering along the Belgian Scheldt

During the last weeks I read two books (written in Dutch) by Belgian author/journalist Chris de Stoop. 'De bres' (the breach - 2000) and 'Dit is mijn hof' (this is my yard - 2015). I found them quite intriguing – especially because they deal with the perspective of Belgian farmers regarding de-poldering plans and actions along the Belgian side of the Scheldt river. Although what follows below is far from a review (you may want to read this, although it is in Dutch), a short outline of his story is presented below. To start with the my main conclusions, drawn from the books: 1) de-poldering is not typically a Dutch thing, and 2) when it comes to driving forces, it is not only water/nature coalitions, but in this case also the harbour of Antwerp that drives the practice.

Both of de Stoop’s books deal with the region of Doel (or Waasland), located on the western shore of the Scheldt river, and west of Antwerp and its harbour. Due to its fertile clayey soil, this predominantly agricultural land yields some of the highest production in western Europe in terms of livestock production and potatoes measured per acre. In the 1960s and 70s, parts of the region were still wetlands (for example, het Verdronken Land van Saeftinghe, located just across the Dutch-Belgian border) which were planned to be drained, reclaimed and added to the ‘granary of northwest Europe’.

But by the 1980s and 90s, the farmer communities started to be confronted with plans to use this land in a different way: to enable the geographical expansion of the harbour of Antwerp. Plans, politics and actions to de-polder and to turn farm lands into docks and container terminals took hold, resulting in many farmers that were expelled from their lands. This took a heavy toll on individual farmers (de Stoop mentions at least one suicide) as well as the farming society as a whole, who saw many of its members departing or quitting with farming entirely. He describes the politics and games that are played in a very moving way, but also as classic good guys versus bad guys way.

In the 1990s, ideas about ‘nature compensation’ following the harbour expansion, and also allocating space for water from the perspective of water safety, were added to the agenda of de-poldering agricultural lands. The de-poldering of the Hedwige/Prosperpolder (on the Dutch-Belgian border), in which 900ha of agricultural land in both countries is being opened up to tidal dynamics, comes back as a case at several places.

On the upper map (source: http://www.kuleuven.be/pdl/uitstappen/2008doel.html) with Doel as a central dot, you see the area is fully in use for agriculture, with polders and canals adjacent to wetlands (het Verdronken Land van Saeftinghe in the northwest). On the lower map (source: http://www.doel2020.org/index.php) you see Doel as well, but now including existing (in blue) and newly planned docks (in pink)/terminals following the expansion of harbour activities, at the expense of farm land.

In his books, de Stoop is very critical towards nature organizations. In the past, he argues, nature organizations were partners of farmers in their continuous battle against, for example, their expanding neighbour. This changed when nature organizations stopped their alliance with farmers - nowadays, they partner with the harbour of Antwerp itself. He argues that they follow an agenda of searching for agricultural areas that can be (temporary) turned into natural areas as compensation for the harbours’ expansion and dredging work to keep the Scheldt at depth. Cynically, he adds, some of the new docks turn out to be obsolete, and many new nature areas do not develop as desired, requiring additional ecological engineering. Nature organizations, in their turn, argue that working together with the harbour would give better and quicker results, compared to resistance to any plan.

De Stoop’s descriptions are clearly from the perspective of the farmers and in that sense biased and dichotomized. But he does so with a purpose: returning to his homeland after his brother passed away gave him the chance to take up the work in agriculture again as well as explore how the farming community has experienced the plans and actions to expel them, for over 20 years. What is most striking are the political games that are played, as he describes the merciless measures that are taken to get farm land free for other purposes.

I’m now searching for books or viewpoint that tell the other side of the story ;p. 

Second article accepted!!

The editors of Ecology and Society have accepted the manuscript, composed by Jan van Tatenhove and me, entitled "Hydraulic engineering in the social-ecological delta: understanding the interplay between social, ecological and technological systems in the Dutch delta by means of 'delta trajectories'" for publication! I expect that it will be published next month. 

This older post gives a short summary: 
http://www.martijnvanstaveren.blogspot.nl/2015/05/second-paper-submitted-deltas-as-co.html

Stockholm & water

For the last two weeks I’ve been in Stockholm, attending the Stockholm World Water Week (SWWW), followed by a research visit hosted by the Stockholm Environmental Institute (SEI). Both ‘events’ were a great opportunity to talk with many people about the topics I work and discuss about the particularities of the deltas where the research takes place.

At the SWWW, still, it is not easy to get immediately in touch with people working on or interested in similar topics – the seize of the conference (over 3000 people participated) and the broadness of the theme (water and development) made it very likely that you would connect with people working on totally different dimensions of water. It required some targeted, on-site researching and contacting. 

So, I was happy that the week after the event was dedicated to planned and more focused discussions with ‘matching’ organizations and individuals when it comes to research topics. Besides SEI you can think about organizations such as the Global Water Partnership, the Stockholm Resilience Centre, and the Stockholm International Water Institute.

Today I gave a presentation at SEI about controlled flooding in deltas and discussed with the participants about how to conceptualize deltas, and how controlled flooding (and associated sedimentation processes) might contribute to building long term delta resilience – not only for humans inhabiting the delta, but also for the delta as a dynamic ecosystem itself. You can find the slides of the presentation via Slideshare. The conclusion was that the paper, written by Jan and me, which includes all these kinds of issues, will find a large community interested to read it and to continue thinking about dealing with delta flood dynamics ;p!

The Delta Works of the 19th century

After fifteen years I re-visited a pumping station near some of the deepest regions (located several meters below mean sea level) of the Netherlands, which houses one of the world’s oldest museums dedicated to hydraulic engineering: the Cruquius. The pumping station contributed to draining the former Haarlemmermeer (‘meer’ meaning ‘lake’) between 1849 and 1852. After serving as a backup station it was formally taken out of service in 1932 and turned into a museum two years later. It now displays several hydraulic pumps used in other projects, but most attention goes to the eight enormous lift pumps and the central cylinder engine, which can still move - on electricity, and no longer pump water.

The museum, which is housed in the pumping station’s workshops, sends out message rests on emphasizing a continuous battle between the Dutch and their ‘water wolf’. For example, it depicts a heroic Dutch lion in the shape of the landscape of west Holland after the reclaiming the lake. The names of the three pumping stations are after three hydraulic engineers who brought forward plans for reclaiming the Haarlemmermeer: Jan Adriaanszoon Leeghwater (plans dating back to the mid-17^th century), Nicolaas Kruik (Latinised name Cruquius, early 18^th century), Frans van Lynden van Hemmen (early 19^th century) which also indicates a form of ‘heroism’.

Before the pumping stations were constructed, water management in polders and reclamation of small wetlands was mostly done by using wind mills, (Archimedes’) screw pumps and water wheels, but in the late 18^th century, steam driven engines step by step became employed in hydraulic engineering works. The construction of three large pumping stations to drain the Haarlemmermeer represented a solid establishment of using steam power for land reclamation.

The Haarlemmermeer measured around 17,000 hectares, which more than out-doubled the largest drainage project done so far by means of wind mills (Beemster polder of around 7,000 hectares). Over the centuries the lake had expanded gradually (eroding its shores, breaking connections to nearby other lakes, as well as deepening up to 4 meters due to underwater peat extraction). Although plans for draining the lake existed earlier, it necessitated socio-political reasons, as well as the advent of hard wind and steam power engines, to materialize. According to the museum, William the First (the first king of the Netherlands) needed to improve his public image after Belgium declared its independence from Holland in 1830. Also major storms in the 1830s, extending the lake further, threatening the urbanizing cities along its edges. Reclaiming the Haarlemmermeer could from this perspective be seen as a nation (re-)building effort, attempted with steam engines in pumping stations displaying grandeur and technological achievement.

Because besides its hydraulic background, a striking feature of the pumping station is its architecture. When looking at the station’s pictures, but even more when visiting its interior, it is hard not to associate the structure to designs of churches or castles. Its buttresses, lancet-shaped windows, battlements and keep support an authoritative affirmation by the church and state power with the practice of ‘pumping out water’. Therefore, well worth to pay it a visit and to learn more about this feature of water management in the Dutch delta.


Photo Gallery by QuickGallery.com

Noordwaard, Perkpolder, and more 'bring in the floods'?

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?