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33-633: If the North Sea floods, the Hollandse IJssel allows water through the Rotterdam Waterway to flood low-lying land east of Rotterdam. The Delta Works included a steel barrier that can be lowered within minutes to block the waterway. The sea protection constructions were built at the mouth of the Hollandse IJssel in 1957. This Utrecht location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This South Holland location article

66-453: A higher acceptable risk. River flooding also has a longer warning time, producing a lower estimated death toll per event. These acceptable risks were enshrined in the Delta Law (Dutch: Deltawet ). This required the government to keep risks of catastrophic flooding within these limits and to upgrade defences should new insights into risks require this. The limits have also been incorporated into

99-514: A large freshwater lake, the Zeeuwse Meer (Zeeland Lake). This would have caused major environmental destruction in Oosterschelde, with the total loss of the saltwater ecosystem and, consequently, the harvesting of oysters. Environmentalists and fishermen combined their efforts to prevent the closure; they persuaded parliament to amend the original plan. Instead of completely damming the estuary,

132-517: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article related to a river in the Netherlands is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Nieuwe Waterweg 51°56′31″N 4°11′29″E  /  51.94194°N 4.19139°E  / 51.94194; 4.19139 The Nieuwe Waterweg ("New Waterway") is a ship canal in the Netherlands from het Scheur (a branch of

165-468: Is a series of construction projects in the southwest of the Netherlands to protect a large area of land around the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta from the sea. Constructed between 1954 and 1997, the works consist of dams , sluices , locks , dykes , levees , and storm surge barriers located in the provinces of South Holland and Zeeland . The aim of the dams, sluices, and storm surge barriers

198-622: Is typically little warning time with North Sea storms. Comprehensive evacuation is not a realistic option for the Holland coastal region. The commission initially set the acceptable risk for complete failure of every "dike ring" in the country at 1 in 125,000 years. But, it found that the cost of building to this level of protection could not be supported. It set "acceptable" risks by region as follows: River flooding causes less damage than salt water flooding, which causes long-term damage to agricultural lands. Areas at risk from river flooding were assigned

231-661: The Maasvlakte to the south, is called the Maasmond. It is marked with two navigation light-towers called the Paddestoelen ("mushrooms"). The Nieuwe Waterweg connects, in the North Sea, to the Maasgeul . This dredged channel in the North Sea is being widened to 840 metres (2,760 ft) to facilitate the largest container vessels for the new Maasvlakte 2 that opened in 2013. Delta Works The Delta Works ( Dutch : Deltawerken )

264-648: The Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt delta ) west of the town of Maassluis to the North Sea at Hook of Holland : the Maasmond , where the Nieuwe Waterweg connects to the Maasgeul . It is the artificial mouth of the river Rhine. The Nieuwe Waterweg, which opened in 1872 and has a length of approximately 20.5 kilometres (12.7 mi), was constructed to keep the city and port of Rotterdam accessible to seafaring vessels as

297-558: The Botlek near Vlaardingen were dammed. After the North Sea flood of 1953 , a Delta Works Commission was installed to research the causes and develop measures to prevent such disasters in future. They revised some of the old plans and came up with the "Deltaplan". An important part of this project was fundamental research to come up with long-term solutions, protecting the Netherlands against future floods. Instead of analysing past floods and building protection sufficient to deal with those,

330-611: The Delta Works Commission, the total costs were estimated at 3.3 billion guilder . This was at that time equal to 20% of national GDP. This amount was spread out over the 25 years that it would take to complete the massive engineering project. The Delta works were mostly financed by the national budget, with a contribution of the Marshall Plan of 400 million guilder. In addition, the Dutch natural gas discovery contributed massively to

363-629: The Delta Works are part of was originally designed in a period of time when environmental awareness and ecological effects of engineering projects were barely taken into consideration. Although the level of awareness for the environment grew throughout the years, the Delta Project has caused numerous irreversible effects on the environment in the past. Blocking the estuary mouths did reduce the length of dykes that otherwise would have to be built to protect against floods, but it also led to major changes in

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396-480: The Delta Works commission pioneered a conceptual framework to use as norm for investment in flood defences. The framework is called the 'Delta norm'; it includes the following principles: The most important "dike ring area" is the South Holland coast region. It is home to four million people, most of whom live below normal sea level. The loss of human life in a catastrophic flood here can be very large because there

429-630: The High Water Protection Program. During the execution of the works, changes were made in response to public pressure. In the Nieuwe Waterweg, the heightening and the associated widening of the dikes proved very difficult because of public opposition to the planned destruction of important historic buildings to achieve this. The plan was changed to the construction of a storm surge barrier (the Maeslantkering ) and dikes were only partly built up. The Delta Plan originally intended to create

462-461: The Oosterschelde and Westerschelde between 1995 and 2015. After 2015, under the High Water Protection Program, additional upgrades are made. In September 2008, the Delta Commission presided by politician Cees Veerman advised in a report that the Netherlands would need a massive new building program to strengthen the country's water defenses against the anticipated effects of global warming for

495-475: The Oosterschelde needed to be strengthened. Over 200 km of the dike needed new revetments. The connections between the Eastern Scheldt and the neighboring Haringvliet had to be dammed to limit the effect of the salt water. Extra dams and locks were needed at the east part of the Oosterschelde to create a shipping route between the ports of Rotterdam and Antwerp. Since operating the barrier has an effect on

528-420: The coast, natural sand is added each year to allow sand to blow freely through the dunes instead of having the dunes held in place by planted vegetation or revetments. Although the new plan brought along additional cost, it was received favourably. The re-considerations of the Delta Project indicated the growing importance of integrate environmental impact assessments in policy-making. The Delta Project of which

561-551: The dikes will eventually have to be made higher and wider. This is a long term uphill battle against the sea. The needed level of flood protection and the resulting costs are a recurring subject of debate, and involve a complicated decision-making process. In 1995 it was agreed in the Delta Plan Large Rivers and Room for the River projects that about 500 kilometres of insufficient dyke revetments were reinforced and replaced along

594-459: The dredged channels in the North Sea, Maasgeul and Eurogeul , that allows ships like the MS Berge Stahl and MV Vale Rio de Janeiro (both with a draught of 23 meters) to enter Europoort . The Dutch government agency Rijkswaterstaat is responsible for maintaining the channel. The point where the Nieuwe Waterweg enters into the North Sea, between Hook of Holland on the north bank and

627-404: The dunes at Hook of Holland—was only 4.3 kilometres (2.7 mi) long, but in around 1877 the channel was made much larger and wider and the current Nieuwe Waterweg was created. Currently the width of the channel is between 480 and 675 metres (1,575 and 2,215 ft) and it is dredged to a depth of 14.5–16 metres (48–52 ft) below Amsterdam Ordnance Datum . It is this channel, together with

660-851: The environment, fisheries and the water management system, decisions made on opening or closing the gate are carefully considered. Also the safety of the surrounding dykes are affected by barrier operations. In an attempt to restore and preserve the natural system surrounded by the dykes and storm-surge barrier, the concept 'building with nature' was introduced in revised Delta Program updates after 2008. The new integrated water management plan not only takes into account protection against flooding, but also covers water quality, leisure industry , economic activities, shipping, environment and nature. Whenever possible, existing engineering constructions would be replaced by more 'nature friendly' options in an attempt to restore natural estuary and tides, while still protecting against flooding. In addition, building components of

693-758: The finance of the project. At completion in 1997, costs were set on 8.2 billion guilder. Nevertheless, in 2012 the total costs were already set on around $ 13 billion. The original plan was completed by the Europoortkering which required the construction of the Maeslantkering in the Nieuwe Waterweg between Maassluis and Hook of Holland and the Hartelkering in the Hartel Canal near Spijkenisse . The works were declared finished after almost forty years in 1997. Due to climate change and relative sea-level rise,

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726-410: The government agreed to build a storm surge barrier. This essentially is a long collection of very large valves that can be closed against storm surges. The storm surge barrier closes only when the sea-level is expected to rise 3 metres above mean sea level. Under normal conditions, the estuary's mouth is open, and salt water flows in and out with the tide. As a result of the change, the weak dikes along

759-506: The mouth of the Nieuwe Waterweg. This storm surge barrier protects Rotterdam against north westerly Beaufort Force 10 to 12 storms. The Nieuwe Waterweg gives the Port of Rotterdam its deep-water access to the North Sea. From Hook of Holland it stretches for approximately 20.5 kilometres (12.7 mi) where the waterway continues as the Nieuwe Maas . The very first Nieuwe Waterweg—a breach through

792-451: The natural Meuse-Rhine branches silted up. The Waterway is a busy shipping route since it is the primary access to one of the busiest ports in the world, the Port of Rotterdam . At the entrance to the sea, a flood protection system called Maeslantkering has been installed (completed in 1997). There are no bridges or tunnels across the Nieuwe Waterweg. By the middle of the 19th century, Rotterdam

825-443: The new Water Law ( Waterwet ), effective from 22 December 2009. The Delta Project (of which the Delta Works are a part) has been designed with these guidelines in mind. All other primary defences have been upgraded to meet the norm. New data elevating the risk assessment on expected sea level rise due to global warming has identified ten 'weak points.' These have been upgraded to meet future demands. The latest upgrades are made under

858-412: The next 190 years. The plans included drawing up worst-case scenarios for evacuations and included more than €100 billion, or $ 144 billion, in new spending through the year 2100 for measures, such as broadening coastal dunes and strengthening sea and river dikes . The commission said the country must plan for a rise in the North Sea of 1.3 meters by 2100 and 4 meters by 2200. The works that are part of

891-482: The reinforcements are designed in a way that they support formation of entire ecosystems. As part of the revision, the Room for the River projects, enabled nature to occupy space by lowering or widening the river bed. In order to establish this, agricultural flood plains are turned into natural parks, excavated farmland is used for wild vegetation and newly excavated lakes and bypasses create habitats for fish and birds. Along

924-475: The removal of the dam separating the new waterway from the sea and river. In 1872, the Nieuwe Waterweg was completed and Rotterdam was easily accessible. Because of the currents and erosion, the shipping lane has been widened somewhat. Yet because of the draft of today's supertankers , it needs to be dredged constantly. In 1997, the last part of the Delta Works , the Maeslantkering , was put in operation near

957-506: The second phase two dikes were built parallel to each other, which took 2 years. Caland proposed to extend the dikes 2 km into the sea to disrupt the coastal sea currents and decrease silt deposits in the shipping lane. Upon the completion of the dikes, the third phase began by the digging of the actual waterway. This began on 31 October 1866 and was completed three years later. The large amounts of removed soil were in turn used to reinforce other dams and dikes. The last phase consisted of

990-562: The water systems. For example, the tides disappeared, which resulted in a less smooth transition from sea water into fresh water. Flora and fauna suffered from this noticeable change. In addition, rivers got covered up by polluted sludge, since there was no longer an open passage to the sea. The projects of the Delta Plan are financed with the Delta Fund. In 1958, when the Delta law was accepted under

1023-445: Was already one of the largest port cities in the world, mainly because of transshipment of goods from Germany to Great Britain. The increase in shipping traffic created a capacity problem: there were too many branches in the river delta, making the port difficult to reach. In 1863, a law was passed that allowed for the provision of a new canal for large ocean-going ships from Rotterdam to the North Sea. Hydraulic engineer Pieter Caland

Hollandse IJssel - Misplaced Pages Continue

1056-503: Was commissioned to design a canal cutting through the "Hook of Holland” and to extend the Mouth of Rhine to the sea. The designs for this were already done back in 1731 by Nicolaas Samuelsz Cruquius but the implementation could no longer be postponed to prevent the decline of the harbour of Rotterdam. Construction began on 31 October 1863. The first phase consisted of the expropriation of farm lands from Rozenburg to Hook of Holland . During

1089-736: Was to shorten the Dutch coastline, thus reducing the number of dikes that had to be raised. Along with the Zuiderzee Works , the Delta Works have been declared one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World by the American Society of Civil Engineers . Due to indecision and the Second World War , little action was taken. In 1950 two small estuary mouths, the Brielse Gat near Brielle and

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