What are the Deltaworks?

In Holland we have a long history of living with water and fighting against water. Water is very important for this country but it is also a weight. Our country is very low, so the sea-level is higher than the land. That means that there is a great risk that the land will be flooded at a big storm or with very high water. In 1953 there was a giant flooding in the Netherlands that caused almost 2000 dead people. It also was a disaster for the national economy. To prevent the land for another flooding we have built very modern dams, they are called the Deltaworks.

The Deltaworks where already planned before the great waterdisaster happened, because the current protections weren’t good enough. But after the flooding it became clear that there had to happen something immediately, so the plan would be fulfilled in a hurry.

The Deltacommision had to deal with a lot of difficulties, because they had to protect the Netherlands from a flooding from the sea, but there were also a lot of great rivers like the Rijn that were ending at that sea. The Deltaworks had to be very inventive and no one in the world had ever fulfilled such a project as the Deltaproject. There was no example; it was going to be a hard and expensive project, but necessarily for the protection a nation.

The first Deltaworks.

In 1958 the first dam in the Hollandse IJsel was finished. It was very important to built this dam because it had to protect the Randstad, which is an important place in the Netherlands where a lot of people are living.

Haringvlietsluizen and Brouwersdam

In the end of the Haringsvliet there are built many dikes to remove the excess water out of the Rijn. Also during very cold winters de dikes shall work, so the water always has the right height. This must be possible so the river is always liquid. The dikes were built in 1971

Oosterschelde

 

It was the original plan to also enclose the Oosterschelde. The water behind the dam would also slowly turn into fresh water. Soon there came resistance against this building. The unique salt-water life would be devastated. Not only the water life but also the total number of fish would suffer by an enclosure of the Oosterschelde. Therefore an alternative plan was invented. The Oosterscheldedam wasn’t going to be entirely closed. They built a few drains instead, that only have to close at extremely high water.

Why are the Deltaworks so important?

-The freshwater supply for the agriculture has been a lot better.

-All of the water economy at the Delta area increased. The water flows are better manageable and wastage or dirty water can be removed.

-Zeeland is more reachable.

-The inland navigation has increased.

-It had impact on the development of nature and recreation.

Other developments

 

Besides the contruction of dams and barrages, at a few places the dams had to be higher. Especialy the dunes that didn’t have an extra protection of the Deltaworks had to be stronger and higher. Especially the dunes at the head of the islands and the dams along the Rotterdamse Waterweg and the Westerschelde had to be consolidated, because the Deltaworks gave them no extra protection.

There were also dams that used to be preventive against the water, but because of the Deltaworks they lost their function. The y weren’t completely useless because now they are used as a second protection in case that the first dams would collapse.

Because the construction of the Deltaproject was expensive, difficult and long lasting it has just finished at the end of the 20^th century. And considering the climate change and the rise of the sea-level the chances are high that very high water levels at the coast of Holland will happen more and more often. And that is very dangerous because the number of people in the lowlands has increased a lot since 1953.                                                                                                                                                                    

Link: deltawerken.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z97gwh6KQz0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBejoeDo9uw&feature=related

Tom:

Venice looks like a peaceful city, but it isn’t at all. Venice is going to be under the water level. In the poor quarter of Venice people have to place their things as high as possible, because most of the year the water came into their houses. This is not a recent problem, it is know that already in the 17^th century people tried to protect Venice against the water. That hasn’t help enough because Venice is still sinking. One of the causes is that in the 16^th century Venice hadn’t water enough in the lagoon. The changed the way of the water to have enough water, now there’s to much water.An other reason is the climate change, because it’s warmer on earth there’s more water in the sea’s and a higher water level. This is a problem all over the world.In 1966 was the biggest flood ever in Venice. Then the government decided to give money to protect Venice. The system that’s used is called MOSE. The three entrances of the lagoon can be closed if the water level is to high. Then their comes water into the barrier, and the Lagoon is safe.

Japan

Japan and the Netherlands are a bit the same. Japan has also problems with water. But in Japan the causes are tsunami’s, in the Netherlands this is to much rain near large rivers. In Japan are also dikes, but they are much larger, because there are more problems with tsunami’s there. In Japan are more floods, because it’s a lot harder to protect a country against tsunami’s and typhoons.

New Orleans

In 2005 there was a disaster in New Orleans. Hurricane Katrina passed the city. A few dikes were broken cause the Hurricane. Than the water came into New Orleans. The city was under the water level. The same as in the Netherlands. That’s why almost the whole city was flooded. Happily there where hundred thousands of people evacuated. Only the poor people didn’t left the city. There were more than 70.000 people without home, many people where injured and hundreds of the people. Also the buildings where destroyed, New Orleans was declared as an unlivable city. The city has to be re-build.

The tsunami

In 2004 there was a massive tsunami. The tsunami was a consequence of a really strong earthquake in the Indian Ocean. The earthquake was felled thousand km from the epicenter. There were 230.000 people missed or dead. The tsunami was ten meters high, and has a huge speed of 900 km an hour It was a really large tsunami, it reached the coast of Africa, there where also hundreds of dead people.  

That where four places where there are problems with water, but it are not the only one places on earth with water problems. There are a lot, lot more of them. Like, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Suriname and China. It are only a couple of examples. The whole world has to work together to fight against the water. Sending help and money to victims isn’t enough. We have to work together to prevent such disasters, only than the world won the fight against the water. But I am afraid it would be a long time before that will happen.

 KAI

 The future after 1953.

The waterdisaster in 1953 was one of the biggest disasters in the Netherlands.  In the time after the disaster the people were looking forward and they all know the same: This would be never happened again!

When all the damage was repair, the people have no idea how to prevent this kind of disasters. Then the plan of the delta Works came in to the World. In Zeeland and by the Zuiderzee, a Group of experts build a couple of walls who protect the Netherlands to the water in the future.

This is a very short summary of the disaster that time and how they think they prevent Netherlands in the future to the water who come higher and higher. That was the future in that time.

The future of this time

 In this time we have a better image of the situation. We have build perfect walls and they are a very good prevention for the Netherlands. Other countries ask the Netherlands for help and we are very proud of or little country. But the water is still a problem. As you can see, the problems are not over. Four years ago there was a new little waterdisaster. In a place named Wilnis, the wall there was to weak for the strong water. But the experts doesn’t know did befor this disaster. The reason was that the wall looked very good of the outside, but the inside was very old and weak. After that disaster the Dutch people are very careful and they control the walls better. As you can see, you can not prevent a disaster before he happened. But the experts try to do this every time. Until now they fail every time as you can see in Wilnis but also in cities outside the Netherlands for example New Orleans, but with a couple of other plans they try to prevent the Netherlands to the water before there happened an other disaster. As you can see at this moment, it can't be worser, but who knows. The water is a very  mysterious enemy. It is everywhere but you didn't know when he attacks us.

The future plans

As I say the experts want to protect the Netherlands with walls to the water, but that was not a great success. Now they think that they can handle the water if they find other things to do with water.  An example of this plan is to give water the space they need. This is not only a plan of the experts but also of people who will help the Netherlands. When you have a good idea you can send it to a organisation named  WaterINNovatiebron. They selected the good plans and they give that plans to experts. They see witch plan it is a reachable plan and then they are going to make with their own plans and the plans of the population of the netherlands a good, new plan to prevent a new disaster and to protect the netherlands against water.

Organisations who prevents us to the water

In the Netherlands is water very important. It gives us very much money of the tourists and it threats us. We must fight against water as one nation and we must handle the situation as one nation. As you can see in Italy, where they also have a water problem, the people are not one nation who fighst against water. There is a part of the people who has fear of the wather, and a part who has nothing to do with water. This is not good for the fight against the water. We as dutch people, are one nation who fighst against water and that is much better.

The organisations who make plans for the fight against water are Waterschap and Rijkswaterstaat. They're not only make plans, they also have the task to lead the figth against water. One of the important people of this organisations is Prins Willem Alexander. He advice the organisations about the situation and he is a man who invent, with a groupe of people, new plans for the future. Without this organisations and "the one nation" mentality, the netherlands was at this moment a sea named The Dutch sea.