Water Management in the Netherlands

Transcription

1 Water Management in the Netherlands Eric Boessenkool Senior Advisor to the Management Board of RIjkswaterstaat

2 Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment New ministry since end of 2010 Merger of Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water management and Ministry of Environment and Spatial planning Broad Policy tasks: Infrastructure, Mobility, Shipping, Water management, Environment, Climate Change, Waste & Pollution, Spatial Planning policies & budget national guidance on spatial planning construction and maintenance of main barriers, locks and sluices

3 Founded in 1798 (one of the first national agencies) Implementing organisation of the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment We build, manage and maintain much of the Dutch national infrastructure: Highways, Waterways and Main Water system (including the North Sea) The Netherlands is Europe s portal when it comes to road transport and inland shipping. is responsible for the hardware of the gateway to Europe. Annual budget 5 bln employees

4 Netherlands Nigeria Surface area 41,526 km² km² Inhabitants 16,7 million 140 million Coastline 451km 853 km Below sea level 22% 0%? Geography Low-lying, marshlands Mangrove, Rainforest, Ravanna Lowest point meters 0 meters

5 Netherlands 60% is vulnerable to flooding 60% of economic value is earned in lowest lying parts of the country 70% of fresh water comes from Germany (river Rhine) 98% of waterbodies are artificial or heavily modified Water infrastructure is one of the pilars of the Dutch economy Challenges: renovating ageing infrastructure current economic crisis climate change and ecological pressures

6 Dike ring areas and safety standards 1. Every dike ring area has a safety standard 2. West Nederland 1: (red) 3. Other coastal area s + lakes 1:4000 (orange) 4. River area 1:1250 (green) 5. Transition area sea- river 1:2000 (yellow) 6 Flood Management in The Netherlands

7 A long history of water management circa 1580 circa

8 Klink en zeespiegelstijging Basic physical problem: The Scissor Sea-level is Rising Land subsidence due to drainage Process has started since 1000 years and continues land zeespiegel getij jaar 8 Flood Management in The Netherlands

9 1900s: Scientific advances, disasters and big projects Major floods: 1916 North Holland Afsluitdijk 1953 Zeeland Deltaworks Upscaling of projects, new sluice and weir types, new materials, network of laboratories and scientific services within RWS, hydraulic modelling

10 Zuiderzeeworks: Afsluitdijk 1932: creating largest freshwater lake in Western Europe Flevoland polder: largest articifial island in the world Since 1986: daily management and maintenance by Waterboard (regional water authority)

11 Deltaworks: Eastern Scheldt barrier First barrier built with environmental concerns (ecological degradation, oyster fishery) Half open storm surge barrier to preserve salt water regime and ecological richness NEVERTHELESS Ecological consequences: less inter tidal ecosystem area less gradients on the shoals reduced feeding time birds less wave reduction in front of dikes Innovative solutions required Monitoring Sand nourishment Experimenting with hydro-power International network of barriers

12 Water governance 1. Municipalities (418) - Sewerage & drinking water 2. Waterboards (26): Levee maintenance, safety assessment, planning & construction 3. Regional safety units (25) - Crisis management 4. Provinces (12): spatial planning 5. National - Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment - policies & budget national guidance on spatial planning construction and maintenance of main barriers, locks and sluices 6. Europe and International River Commissions - general legal framework and cross-border cooperation 12 General presentation 11 juli 2013

13 Northsea Building with Nature: Sandmotor Smart Levees Port-nature development: Land reclamation -Flood control Dike Sensor Technology (IJkdijk) Room for the River Deltaworks/I-Storm Institutional - Water Governance Centre - UNESCO-IHE (education) - United Nations PPP centre - Netherlands Water Partnership Delta Programme Long term vision 2100: - Climate change adaptation - Safety against flooding - Freshwater strategy - Regional and International strategy

14 Keeping an open seaport: increased salinization First acute problem in relation to climate change around ROtterdam

15 Room for the River: 39 projects 2.3 bln

16 16 Delta Programme Commissioner 6 October 2011 Sand motor: 21.5 cubic meters of sand

17 Preparing for the future: Deltacommission Expect sealevelrise from 0,65m to 1,30 m in 2100 and 2m to 4 m in 2200 More frequent droughts and unstable weatherpatterns Deltafund: 1 bln annually

18 We build, manage and maintain much of the Dutch national infrastructure. Highways, Waterways and Main Water system (including the North Sea).

19 Some facts Main Water System manages: 65,250 km² of surface water 44 kilometres of dunes 325 kilometres of dykes and dams 2,706 kilometres of banks 16 weirs Afsluitdijk and Houtribdijk dykes 4 storm surge barriers

20 Main Waterway Network manages: 1,686 kilometres of canals and rivers, 1,462 kilometres of which main traffic axes 6,165 kilometres of waterway on open water 83 locks 422 bridges Crisismanagement