This year's theme for World Water Day is Water for Cities: Responding to the challenge. This a familiar theme for the Dutch, both at home and, more recently, abroad, with projects like the levee fortifications in New Orleans and the prestigious island project in Dubai.

Deltas
More than half the world's population lives in cities. Many of these are below sea level, and hence vulnerable to the effects of climate change, mostly flooding.

Dutch Delta Works - barriers and dams

Graphic: Wikipedia

The Dutch know what it means to live with the constant threat of water. Situated on the delta where the Rhine, Schelde and Meuse rivers converge and flow into the North Sea, it's no surprise that Dutch history has been shaped by the need to keep the water out.

The Dutch experience has bred generations of experts, and Dutch experts today are helping solve water problems all around the world. They are involved in an estimated 40 percent of all water projects worldwide.

In the Netherlands there are over 2000 companies, research institutes, and government offices specialising in water-related subjects. Employing 80,000 people, they guarantee a turnover of billions of euros. 

Tragedy
The great flood of 1953, vividly remembered to this day, killed 1830 people in the Netherlands and scores more in neighbouring countries. Over 70,000 people become homeless. The tragedy ultimately led to the Delta Project, with barriers and dikes built to protect the estuaries of the delta in the southwestern Netherlands. It has been called one of the most revolutionary hydrological projects in the world.

The knowledge gathered in the Netherlands is being applied to projects like Water Mondial, involving Mozambique, Egypt, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Vietnam.

When the levee broke - New Orleans, 2005

Photo: Wikimedia

Around the world
The US city of New Orleans was hit by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, leading to widespread loss of life and enormous damage. Dutch technology is being used to reinforce levees and build storm barriers.

Dutch companies are also involved in the world's biggest dredging project called "The World", consisting of 300 artifical islands to be built off the Dubai coast, depicting the world. The project has been suspended because of the financial crisis.

Meanwhile, a Dutch technique for purifying sewage water is being used in Australia, the United States and China. The method involves a specially designed hydraulic tank.

Even the youngest Dutch are involved; three Dutch schoolchildren have developed a pump which does not just dispense water, but disinfects it - and the container it's in - as it operates. The pump is being tested in Ghana.

Crown prince
Crown Prince Willem Alexander is representing the Netherlands at the main UN event for World Water Day in South Africa. He said he hopes that the annual occasion will make people more aware of water-related problems.

What such awareness can achieve is illustrated by a few simple figures: since 1990, the Dutch population has grown by 11 percent, but water usage increased by just 1 percent over the same period. In 1990 each Dutch citizen used 131 litres per year; by 2009 that had gone down to 119 litres.

(rk/ae)