General Members' Meeting and Excursion to the control room of Rijkswaterstaat in Maasbracht 8-4-2017

Saturday 8 April 2017 started our annual ALV Region Limburg South at a very nice location: a few metres above the inner harbour of Maasbracht. From Café Restaurant de Kolentip one has a very wide view of the locks and weir in the Maas in Maasbracht on one side and the inner harbour of Maasbracht, the Claus Power Plant and the bridge of the A2 motorway over the Maas on the other.

We were hospitably received on the upper floor of the Café Restaurant. From there one has a view of the fascinating surroundings to all sides and we presented on our KIVI banner the review of 2016 activities and current views on 10 or more envisaged activities in our Region or sometimes beyond.

After a prosperous ALV, we had to wait a while for our two introducers from/on behalf of Rijkswaterstaat Directie Zuid Nederland. The time between the ALV and the excursion was well filled with an informal get-together between our board and the members present. Thus, we received valuable tips from our members for possible, future excursions in our Region or in other parts of the Province of Limburg.

After a short walk, in by now beautifully sunny April weather, we reached the control room building of Rijkswaterstaat, located at the Maasbracht locks and weir.

Opened in 2014, this building is Rijkswaterstaat's central control room in the Province of Limburg.

From building, the following sections are operated centrally in Maasbracht:

  • The movable part of the Servaas Bridge in Maastricht;
  • Bosscher field lock ( Zuid Willemsvaart )
  • The weir at Borgharen, for distribution of the Maas water between Julianakanaal and the so-called Border Maas;
  • The barrier at Limmel
  • The lock ( 11 m height difference) at Born;
  • The lock (12 m height difference) at Maasbracht;
  • The weir and lock at Linne;
  • Lock at Heel ( lateral canal )
  • The weir and lock at Belfeld.

In total, the height difference in the Dutch Meuse from entering Eijsden to flowing into the North Sea is 44.5 metres. Between Maastricht and Maasbracht, the gradient is 23 metres, which is why the Juliana Canal was dug. The Meuse is a rainwater river with highly variable water levels and therefore cannot be kept navigable all year round without the use of the Juliana Canal. The locks in the canal allow the water level to be regulated. At very low water levels in the Meuse, water can also be pumped back up at Maasbracht and Born, limiting the loss of water due to lockage.

Our group was received on the top floor of the building, where there is a nice reception room, also with a beautiful view of the locks and the port of Maasbracht. Messrs Sico Bouwsma and Jan Textra were our guides and Mr Simons was also present on behalf of RWS Directorate South.

Our group, accompanied by Mr Bouwsma, visited successively: the roof terrace of the building and then the extensive control room with many monitors.

On this Saturday, four people were present in this room. Some of the operating people present were knowledgeable and friendly and explained to us the images of the monitors and their work in them. One of the people here has a special task to be able to raise the alarm in case of unexpected pollution of the Meuse or the Juliana Canal and also keeps an eye on the occurring Meuse water flows.

During extremely high water, such as in 1993 and 1995 in the province of Limburg, flows of up to 3,500m3 / s can occur! At such high flows, the weirs have to be lowered in order to avoid an accumulation of Meuse water and damage to the weirs.

Finally, we looked outside in one of the locks, where a large cargo boat and a yacht had just passed through to continue towards Maasbracht and Roermond. The locking process takes about 20 minutes, so one can just go through a full cycle of locks in 1 hour. Finally, we returned to the reception area where we warmly thanked our hosts for their interesting presentation and guided tour.

We would also like to thank RWS Directorate South very much for our hospitable reception, the interesting excursion and for sponsoring the cost of this nice excursion.

For those interested, another image report in PDF format is available on our activities of KIVI Region South in the past year 2016.

We hope to see you all back at one or preferably several of our excursions in 2017.

Jan Weerts, KIVI Region Limburg South.

Description

The board of KIVI - Region Limburg South has the honour to invite you and one guest to the general members' meeting. The members' meeting will again be combined with an activity.

-- LOCATION GENERAL MEMBERS' MEETING --
Restaurant de Kolentip
Tipstraat 8
6051 CX Maasbracht

-- LOCATION ACTIVITY --
Rijkswaterstaat Bediencentrale Maasbracht
Oude Maasweg 7-11
6051 LV Maasbracht

Location

Maasbracht

Organiser

Region Limburg South

Name and contact details for information

ing. H.van der Velden, chairman

limburgzuid@kivi.nl

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