Netherland’s Flood Management is a Climate Adaption Model for the World

More than 50 per cent of the Netherlands is below sea level, prompting the Dutch to seek innovative water management solutions.

Protective dikes along the coastline and many Dutch rivers represent the proactive and preventive measures that the country is taking against the consistent threats of flooding.

Climate change, however, will further exacerbate flooding threats due to rising sea levels, an increasing frequency of heavy rains, and more intense storm events.

The flood management and protection strategies that worked for the Netherlands would need to be amplified to address the effects of climate change.

The article on TriplePundit illustrates how the Netherlands is preparing to address the growing threats of climate change through the Valuing Water Initiative.

The Dutch prime minister launched the project in 2019, implementing the UN’s Valuing Water Principles.

According to the article “Valuing Water Initiative – Better Decisions Impacting Water,” the principles were formulated to implement Sustainable Development Goal 6, ensuring the sustainable management of water and sanitation for all. 

The idea behind the program was to establish a common starting point for governments, non-profits, and businesses in addressing water problems.

The Valuing Water Initiative has the following five water principles:

• recognising the multiple values of water,
• reconciling disparate values,
• Protect all sources of water,
• raise public awareness of water to enable more inclusive participation, and
• Ensure investment to harness innovation.

The city of Dordrecht had experienced the most catastrophic floods in history due to its low elevation and location at the intersection of the sea and three major rivers.

The city’s flooding history, particularly the major storm in 1421 that destroyed several dikes and submerged 23 villages, and its continued vulnerability to flooding have made it a flagship for the Netherlands’ Valuing Water Initiative.

The project focuses on changing the view of flooding as part of sustainable urban design (Zerrenner, 2021).

Due to the increased flooding threats from climate change, city planners recognised that they would need a multi-layer approach for flood management that includes prevention and preparation strategies.

Prevention is essential for successful adaptation. As part of the city’s prevention strategy, it should not grant building permits in its high flood-prone areas and develop policies to prevent rebuilding in these areas, thereby preventing repeated flooding devastation.

Preparation, the final layer of the Valuing Water Initiative, involves having a plan in place for what to do when flooding occurs. Among other things, the city is developing an evacuation plan to relocate people to higher ground.

The De Starrt district sits at a higher elevation than the rest of the city, which makes it an ideal evacuation site. The city plans to build sustainable housing, flexible spaces, and a public transportation system to help evacuate people, particularly vulnerable community members. The city is also a model coastal city for climate adaptation.  

Coastal flooding can be a catastrophic and costly event, as seen in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida, which bears a resemblance to the post-Katrina flooding. However, even as coastal cities are beginning to prepare for increased coastal flooding, which is projected to become more severe with climate change, flood protection methods have already been established in Dordt (Guriro, 2016).

In 2016, the Netherlands hosted Adaptation Futures 2016 to showcase its climate adaptation efforts. Among the 13 sites selected in the country to tour delegates, Dordt hosted the ‘Dordrecht Flood Management Walking Tour’, a city tour showcasing the city’s efforts to manage the water surrounding it over the past century. The city has built dikes by raising embankments to protect the residents’ houses. Authorities also installed stop logs on the doors and streets to keep the water out, which are regularly checked to ensure they function correctly, especially during floods (Guriro, 2016).

The Delta Program is the Netherlands’ approach to flood risk management, an elaborate system of dams, sluice gates, storm surge barriers, dikes, and other protective measures. The program also brings together experts on water management, civil society, and authorities from all levels of government (5 facts, 2016).

As part of the implementation of the Delta Program, the “wide green dike” was reintroduced as a nature-based solution to combat flooding.  The use of the “wide green dike” allows the alignment of flood protection, climate adaptation goals, and nature conservation objectives, and collaboration with experts and stakeholders, making this solution crucial.  

Jantsje and Vellinga (2019) examined the steps to reintroduce the ‘wide green dike’ in the Netherlands. According to their study, the ‘wide green dike’ is a historical design that utilises only natural materials, such as clay covered with grass, and features a mildly sloping seaward face that merges smoothly into the adjacent salt marsh.

The study explains further:

Under normal conditions, incoming waves are damped by the salt-marsh foreland. When the salt marsh is submerged due to high water levels, waves reach the dike only during storm conditions. Due to the wave-damping capacity of the salt-marsh foreland and the gentle seaward slope, which reduces wave impact, the grass-covered clay layer is sufficient to protect the dike against erosion during extreme events.

In contrast, traditional barriers built in the Netherlands over the last hundred years have a steeper seaward slope, covered by asphalt, concrete, or stones, to resist the design wave loads.

The researchers aim to identify the barriers and drivers to applying this nature-based solution to flooding, so that other delta regions facing similar problems to those in the Netherlands can replicate its use.