According to the ‘law on water defence’ the water defences in the Noordoostpolder must be sufficiently strong, so only a one time in 4000 years a flood from the IJsselmeer Lake or the Markermeer Lake may occur. A test of the water defence in and close to the particular location of Urk showed that it did not meet safety standards. Therefore a plan was set up for improvement. Besides the technical aspects, the visual aspects were taken into account: the vision concerns a design made to fit with the historical surroundings of Urk.

In the design of the dike strengthening the current situation has been reserved as much as possible. In the design this has been reached by using the original materials and characteristics of the water defence. The current infrastructure has also been taken into account like roads and cycle paths. Finally (for the built-up area) the restriction of the inconvenience during the building activities has also been taken into account in the design.

Grontmij, Rijkswaterstaat