News - October

Divers of the KNNV nature club will hold a lecture about underwater nature in November. More>>>

The union of water boards highlights a free international conference in Bonn, Germany scheduled in November, on the future of the river Rhine. The main language of the conference is German, translations are available in Dutch and French. More>>>

The magazine Land & Water reports:

• A new system has been developed that enables monitoring the current status of dikes, dams, railroads and bridges based on satellite imagery. More>>>
• Natural areas suffering from dessication were revitalized by raising the ground water level. However, roads in these areas are now suffering from this water surplus. More>>>
• Water board Regge en Dinkel is starting a project called 'The Breakthrough', involving the relocation of the route of a discharge route in Twente. It is estimated to take 15 years to complete and will cost 50 million euro. More>>>

The magazine H2O reports:

• Several parties in the province of Brabant aimed at water, lifestyle, art and design have initiated a Water Lifestyle Center. More>>>
• A new website waterwerkvormen has been launched, where you can find policy and negotiation tools involving water, climate and spatial development. More>>>
• Water board Rijn en IJssel has asked an independent agency to review the effectiveness of its response during the severe water incident last August. On review are the cooperation with other parties, communicating, whether or not the current water system is up to regulations and if the water board acted according to circumstances. More>>>

The magazine De Ingenieur reports:

• A new decision aiding matrix has been developed to help explore the design possibilities of houses as flood barriers. Many parties are involved that all have their own values to protect: water boards care about water safety norms, municipalities and citizens want high living standards. The so-called Urban Flood Protection Matrix indicates the viability of plans for each party involved. Still missing are rules and regulations for building these structures. More>>>

Federal or state?

Both Dutch and Japense people expect their government to take care of mostly everything when it comes to floods, from prevention to evacuation. How are these expectations in the land of the free?

The United States has seen a magnitude of flood-related disasters such as the Mississippi floods and hurricanes such as Katrina. [An informative American flood website is floodsafety.com, where amongst others you can find information on D'Hanis, Texas, which received a whopping 60 cm of rain in 2.45 hours.] However, most Americans tend to prefer to arrange things for themselves and have as little governmental influence as possible. Whereas Japan and the Netherlands have governments focussed mainly on preventing floods, the United States are centered around preparations of less than 1 week and recovering (see the reference below). Regardless of what is being done and when, it is still interesting to know who is being held responsible.

Like with the health care issue, the question is: 'who is responsible, federal or state government?'. If water management is handled per state, this could greatly affect implemented measures. In this regard there are similarities between the individual states in the USA and the countries that make up the European Union. Given the tiny country that the Netherlands is, in the 1970s it became unignorably evident that water issues (at that time contamination issues) were international problems, and therefore any solutions should be approached internationally as well. Now that we have the European Water Framework Directive, plans have moved from theory to actual implementation internationally as well. Looking at the United States, the Mississippi river and its floods seem to naturally call for a bigger-than-state approach. Is water management handled on a state or federal level, or both? Or are the inhabitants of flood prone areas left to fend for themselves? Undoubtely the answer will be a combination of these three.

More important though is the question whether the measures that are taken seem adequate to the inhabitants. Are people happy living their lives in flood prone areas? Do they feel safe? Does the amount of freedom weigh up nicely against the risk of flooding?

[Ironically, the safety chain approach in flood risk management used in the Netherlands (proaction-prevention-preparation-response-recovery) stems from the United States' Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).]

Old Skipper's House

In the center of Hoogeveen, deprived of any natural water whatsoever, lies the quaint restaurant the Old Skipper's House. There are wide streets with heavy traffic on one side of the restaurant, and the busy main street with shops and cafes on the other. But there is no navigable water in the area, and there are definitely no ships. An innocent bystander might think the restaurant owner moved to this town from elsewhere and really liked the name, but the truth lies elsewhere.

Hoogeveen, as the town's name indicates, has a history in peat. Back in the 1600's peat was big business and canals were dug to transport them. The canals were even the main mode of transportation as all the milk from the surrounding area was brought to the market in Hoogeveen by boat. Once a month the farmers would come to town themselves; the men would sit wait at the Old Skipper's House for their milk money, and their wives would go out to market to buy city commodities.

After the second world war the canals were filled, leading to wide roads. The city has since then brought back the water in the form of fountains and an artificial river, meandering through Main Street, between all the shops. Plans for more ponds and fountains await the city council's approval. It just goes to show a name can carry a lot of history and explain even the modern day layout of a city.