Mini seminar on water safety
Description
[1] Room for the River, the Waal near Nijmegen
Roel van de Laar (Royal HaskoningDHV)
Room for the Waal near Nijmegen is one of those Room for the River measures. The Waal makes a sharp bend near Nijmegen and also narrows here in the form of a bottle neck. In 1993 and 1995, it was clearly visible that this can cause the river to flood at high tide. To protect residents from the force of the water, river engineering measures were necessary.
After an extensive public debate, national politics decided to move the dike at Nijmegen-Lent 350 metres inland. This created space to construct a side channel for the Waal. This side channel provides extra capacity for water drainage at high water, so that less impoundment occurs.
Meanwhile, this project has been fully completed. Roel van der Laar discusses the various aspects of this project.
[2] Flood risks in delta areas
Frans Klijn (Deltares)
The climate is changing, it is raining more often and harder, the rivers are carrying more water, the sea level is rising and the land is falling: it is becoming more dangerous. There are now more than 17 million of us Dutch, huddling together in the lowest-lying areas with our notebooks and data centres: we are becoming more vulnerable. But the Netherlands is also the best protected delta in the world and prides itself on that. What is the current state of affairs and how will flood risk evolve? Are we really safe?
Speaker(s)
Roel van de Laar, consultant Rivers&Coasts
Royal HaskoningDHV
Frans Klijn
Deltares
Location
IPKW Arnhem, Westervoortsedijk 73, 6827 AV Arnhem
Organiser
Region Gelderland
Risk Management and Engineering
Name and contact details for information
Gerard Thomas