Description

Influence of changes in land use and climate on the water conservation and safety of our polders.

The Netherlands is a polder country. About two-thirds of our land would be temporarily or permanently under water if it was not protected by dykes and provided with a drainage system. In its natural state, the low part of our country was 2-3 m above sea level. After our distant ancestors were more and more forced to live on mounds in the flood-prone areas, they started building dykes at the end of the 12th century. This meant that the drainage in the diked area also had to be taken care of, which is why drainage was introduced. Initially, this was done by means of sluices that discharged water during low outside water levels. However, as the land surrounding the dikes became lower and lower, it became increasingly necessary to switch to mill drainage in the late 14th century and early 15th century. At the beginning of the 19th century, steam pumping made its appearance, which in turn has since been replaced by mostly automatic electric pumping.

Meanwhile, large parts of our country have sunk considerably and the deepest parts are at almost 7 m below sea level. This involves a number of other processes that affect the safety and water management of our polders. First of all, this concerns urbanisation and industrialisation, which mainly took place after World War II, in addition to the rise of nature management and recreational facilities in polder areas in recent decades. There has also been climate change over the entire period.

The latter aspect in particular receives a lot of attention in politics and the press these days, while the aforementioned processes have much more influence on water management and safety. From past developments, a look ahead to what we can expect in the future will be given. The reassuring announcement is: we will keep our polders dry if we can maintain the diligence that characterised our forefathers. The latter is subject to doubt as far as the speaker is concerned

10.30:00 Reception with coffee/tea
11:00 Lecture by Prof B. Schultz
11:45 Pause
12:15 Continuation of lecture with concluding discussion
12:45 End of meeting

Speaker(s)

Bart Schultz is professor of Land and Water Development at UNESCO-IHE, Delft

Location

Science Centre, Mijnbouwstraat 120, Delft

Organiser

History of Technology

Histechnica

Name and contact details for information

Further information from L.A. Hissink at the e-mail address below.

hissinkla@planet.nl