6
DELTARES, JANUARY 2014
‘
T
he Netherlands is located in a
low-lying delta. We have already
been battling water for 800 years.
Sixty per cent of our country is
flood-prone. That area is home to
9
million people, and it is where
we generate 70% of our income. Over the centuries,
we have learned to adapt to life in the Delta, and we
have transformed our unique location on the coast,
with four major international rivers flowing through
the country, into a strength.’
International significance
‘
The Netherlands has a lot of expertise and experi-
ence with all types of water issues, from drinking
water to flood defences, and from governments to
spatial planning, particularly in densely-populated
deltas. And so Dutch water and delta technology is
in the international top. Our innovations in dike con-
struction, flood warnings, recovering raw materials
and energy from wastewater, or monitoring drinking
water systems using new communications technol-
ogies - cell phones, Internet or satellite information
to map out water use and weather patterns - have
had a major international impact.’
‘
Dutch water companies are currently active in 73
countries in a range of fields. For example, we are
working in flood protection in countries that include
Indonesia, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Colombia and
Mozambique.’
Integrated approach
‘
Here in the Netherlands, we have always been good
at major international infrastructure that keeps out
the water. But our thinking about flood protection
has - rightly - changed. The Dutch delta approach is
an integrated one, which includes not only preven-
tive measures (such as the construction of flood
defences) but also natural, economic and spatial
developments.’
‘
Technology is not the only solution. Technology,
sustainability and the combination of recreation,
economy and housing must be integrated: we can
create more room for rivers through the construc-
tion of secondary channels, for example, or locate
dikes further away from the rivers rather than con-
fining rivers more and more. In that way, we reduce
flood risks and give nature more opportunities.’
Ongoing protection
‘
The benefit of this integrated approach is that we
can provide ongoing protection after a thorough
analysis of the context; we are often thinking 50
years ahead. However, that also means that the
‘
Bring in the Dutch’ is a cry that is often heard when countries
have problems with water management. But what does the
‘
Dutch approach’ involve? Minister Melanie Schultz van Haegen of
Infrastructure and the Environment explains. She is a minister with
a passion for water. ‘It has made the Netherlands what it is today,
and made us what we are.’
BY CARMEN BOERSMA
‘
DUTCH
APPROACH’
GOES GLOBAL
PHOTO: GUUS SCHOONEWILLE