War on water calls for ingenuity

Without dykes and barriers, the Netherlands would soon be reclaimed by the sea. But rising sea levels will make existing defences inadequate in the future.

On Monday a special Delta Commissioner will begin a major task: making the Netherlands 'waterproof' for centuries to come.

Down the centuries the Dutch have had a love-hate relationship with water. In the 17th century they sailed the world's seas and became rich from trade. This period in Dutch history is rightly known as 'The Golden Age'.

The way in which the Dutch repeatedly reclaimed their land from the sea with blood, sweat, tears and ingenuity made a huge impression around the world. Dutch hydraulic engineers are still in great demand in regions where floods threaten or have already struck, such as Bangladesh and New Orleans.

Storm

For the Dutch, the 1st of February 1953 remains inextricably linked with water's dark side. Massive flooding occurred in the Southwest Netherlands; nearly 2,000 people died, hundreds of thousands lost their homes and entire plots of land disappeared.

Water would break the Dutch dykes again, but never again in such a dramatic way.

After 1953, the coastal defences were dramatically strengthened with the futuristic and extremely costly Oosterschelde storm surge barrier, a nine-kilometre dam with moveable slides which can be closed in case of heavy weather. But during the construction of this dam and the other defences, no-one had as yet heard of climate change or greenhouse gasses.

Wet feet

Scheveningen, a seaside resort on a cold winter's day. Optician Hans Knoester stands on the dyke which separates the beach and one of the oldest shopping streets in the country.

"If I look left and right, I can see that the sea is a bit higher than my shop. Before this dyke was here, when there was a storm, the water would sometimes reach the street. We would get wet feet and flooded cellars. Once the dyke was built, a few decades ago, those days were over."

The new Delta Commission has taken another critical look at the safety of all the dykes in the Netherlands and decided they needed heightening on a grand scale. Hans Knoester is glad to have dry feet, but in commercial terms, the dyke in Scheveningen has had a disastrous effect on him and his fellow shopkeepers.

"Tourists stroll across the beach on this side of the dyke. They have no idea that there's a wonderful historical shopping street on the other side. We're losing out on a lot of customers. As an optician I'd like to be able to sell lots of beautiful sunglasses to the tourists. I'd like to ask the new commissioner to make this dyke so attractive that people will be inclined to walk over it instead of underneath it.

Renovation

Two years ago the Delta Commission warned that the risk of serious flooding would continue to increase in the future, largely because of the rising sea levels caused by global warming. The ground is also sinking; the Low Countries are getting lower. The new Delta Commissioner has been given a multi-billion budget and forty years in which to raise the height of all dykes, give the Oosterschelde storm surge barrier a thorough renovation and fix affairs in the Dutch hinterland. The major rivers will, for example, be allowed more room in which to overflow their banks.

Harry Sanders is a pensioner who lives near one of those major rivers, the Waal, and knows only too well that the river occasionally demands more space for itself. Like Mr Knoester the optician, he is looking down from the top of a high dyke.

"Down there you can see our 700-year-old church and the graveyard with the graves of my parents and grandparents. It's outside the dyke, not far from the river. The water laps over it occasionally. We don't make a fuss about that, we just say the dead are getting their annual bath. I've learned to live with the threat. You have to know what to do if the waters come. First you save people and animals, then you can think about rescuing the antique cabinet in the living room. I'm afraid the economic crisis will mean cutbacks in the Delta Commissioner's budget. I'd like to ask him to dig his heels in and defend the plans with main and might. Without that security there'll be nothing left on the Netherlands."

The Netherlands will have to take up arms again against the rising waters. If the sea level rises ten metres there will be little left of this country. It looks as if we'll need all our ingenuity again.

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