Netherlands sets global standard in flood defence and water management

The Netherlands has emerged as a world leader in protecting land from rising waters, investing up to 1.3 billion euros each year to maintain an extensive system of dikes, polders, canals, windmills, concrete barriers and embankments that keep floods at bay, The News reported citing a research.

Moreover, artificial dwelling hills or Terpins have also been built to increase the land elevation.

Similar to Bangladesh, the Netherlands has also created a scheme that alerts citizens of possible floods 24 hours before the otherwise uncontrollable waters hit the country.

The anti-flood system they have built over decades is on a scale unmatched anywhere else in the world.

The Dutch have also built a giant sea gate guarding the port of Rotterdam, the largest port in Europe, and a c rucial hub for industries of all sorts.

A media house maintained: “The gate has two curved arms; each as tall and twice as heavy as the Eiffel Tower. When needed, they swing out into the water to lock together and sink to the bottom, forming a 22-meter-high wall against the sea. The barrier is one of the largest moving structures on Earth; its two ball-and-socket joints, anchored in the embankment on either side of the canal, weigh 680 tonnes each.”

From 1962 until 2004, the 31,500-acre Rotterdam was the world’s busiest port by annual cargo tonnage. It was overtaken first in 2004 by the port of Singapore, and later by Shanghai and other very large Chinese seaports.

In May 2019, global investors had enthusiastically embraced a national Netherlands 5.98 billion-Euro Green Bond designed to fund projects to cope with current and future climate change impacts and an advanced low-carbon economy.

Much of the bond focused on using coastal and river ecosystems as a safeguard for negative climate impacts such as high flood risk.

Investors responded to the bond immediately, oversubscribing the issuance by more than 15.2 billion Euros!

Although global warming can overwhelm the measures the Netherlands has taken to control floods, the risk of these water-related disasters has been reduced from once every 100 years to once every 1,250 years.

The region has a long history of devastating floods that continually reshape the land. For more than 1,000 years the residents of this region have devised ways to reclaim land from encroachment by the sea.

The Rhine, Meuse and Schelde are Holland’s three chief rivers.

The densely-populated Netherlands or Holland is known for its low elevation and approximately two-thirds of its area is vulnerable to flooding.

While 15 million people in the Netherlands live below the sea level, the river Rhine and its tributaries, the Meuse and the Mosel, have often attacked Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg.

The first river dikes had appeared near the river mouths in the 11th century, where incursions from the sea added to the danger from high water levels on the river.

The 17th and 18th centuries were a period of many infamous river floods resulting in much loss of life. They were often caused by ice dams blocking the river. Land reclamation works, large willow plantations and building in the winter bed of the river all worsened the problem.

The “Encyclopedia Britannica” states: “The first Dutch food in 1287 had caused more than 50,000 casualties. A significant percentage of the country’s population perished in the disaster, and it has been rated as one of the most destructive floods in recorded history. Called the St Lucia flood, this event also created direct sea access for the village of Amsterdam, allowing its development into a major port city.”

The 1421 floods had killed up to 10,000 people.

In more recent history, February 1953 had seen one of the biggest natural disasters hitting the Netherlands ever, killing 2400 humans.

Around 770 square miles of southern Holland were inundated, forcing tens of thousands to flee.

Many were overtaken by the icy waters as more and more flood walls failed. The storm also devastated parts of England, Belgium and Germany.

Urbanisation is one of the major causes of flooding in Netherlands.

The urban population here accounts for 82.9% of the total population. A lot of buildings, roads, and cities have thus been built over the course of centuries, leading to destruction of vegetation, hence reducing the interception of rainfall when a storm is to occur.

Additionally, the excessive use of tar and cement to pave roads and sidewalks inhibit water from infiltrating the soil, which increases the chances of surface runoff.

These artificial structures are impermeable, and water is forced to flow back into the ocean through surface runoff, increasing the peak discharge in the area. Due to this, the lag time for water to flow back into the ocean has decreased, increasing the chances of flooding.

Due to land reclamation, areas close to the shoreline become more prone to coastal waves. Erosion takes place resultantly and the fast-sinking land leads to floods.

And then for the sake of urbanisation and providing land for agriculture and ploughing, deforestation has taken place.

Being the world’s second largest exporter of agricultural products, agriculture plays an immense role in the Netherlands’ economy. Presently, over 70% of the country’s land is used for agricultural purposes.

The Guardian reported that the low-lying Netherlands has been fighting back water for more than 1,000 years, when farmers built the first dykes. 

"Windmills have also been pumping the stuff off the land since the 14th century. One of the most densely populated countries on the planet, 60% of the Netherlands is vulnerable to flooding, and its peat-rich agricultural soil is subsiding even as climate change is raising sea levels. The country’s universities are producing some of the world’s best water engineers and managers and it is exporting its expertise abroad; the Dutch government has advised on water governance projects in China, Africa and Australia," the report stated. 

Meanwhile, The British newspaper revealed “there are no financial packages for people who have to move.”

It quoted a government official as saying: “They get the market value of their house and that is all. We will help them find another place, but not financially. The only thing we do is to make sure that they do not lose money.”