History of Dutch water management
The history of Dutch water management started approximately in the 9th century. The period until the 13th century is marked by loss of big portions of land. At that time the only defense against floods was to live on higher dwelling places, called 'terpen'. At the same time, reclamation of peatlands started in the west of the country, causing a considerable drop in water level, and consequently subsiding lands. Especially these lands below sea level were threatened by floods from the sea. Regular floods claimed many victims and continued to do so for centuries, for instance in 1421, when tens of thousands of people died in the great St. Elizabeth Deluge.
But the Dutch fought back, conquering water by building dikes for the peatlands as well as for the densely populated clayey areas inland. The introduction of the mill between 1250 and 1600 came just in time to ensure a continuous use of the subsiding agricultural land and was also used for the drainage of lakes.
At the same time it was costly to maintain the dikes and sluices. To share the costs of maintenance, community groups were established, which were the predecessors of the later water boards. In a community, every farmer was responsible for a certain part of the dike. In a later period the waterboards started to maintain the dikes themselves to ensure a certain quality, and the farmers just paid water taxes.
The Golden Age in the Netherlands until the 18th century, was favorable for land reclamation too. The modernization of Dutch society resulted in achievements such as the Haarlemmermeer, a 18,000 hectare lake which was pumped dry. Schiphol airport was built there.
The first large scale engineering project in the 20th century was closing the Zuiderzee. Closing the open connection from the North Sea to the centre of the Netherlands would reduce the risk of flooding.
Yet the war had not been won and water continued to lay claim to the land every now and again, such as during the catastrophic floods of 1953. The Flood Disaster in 1953 was a rude awakening for the country. The fatal combination of a north-westerly storm and spring tide resulted in the inundation of large parts of the provinces of Zeeland and South Holland. Over 1800 people died and the flood caused enormous damage to houses and property. Only one conclusion could be drawn: the country was not safe. Measures to prevent a repetition of the disaster were put forward in the form of the Delta Plan. The dykes in Zeeland and South Holland had to be raised to delta level: they had to be capable of withstanding storm surges as much as one and a half metres higher than those during the notorious storm in 1953.
The Netherlands built the Delta Works and gained a reputation as a country that had won the war against water, rescuing a large part of its territory from its grasp.
In 1993 and 1995 the Netherlands were faced again with floods, due to climate change resulting in more melting- and rainwater from the areas upstream. A new approach to water management was needed. Instead of a continued increase in height and size of dikes, posibilities are explored to make more space for water. More information about this approach can be found elsewhere on this website.
Source: Parts from Man-made lowlands – History of water management and land reclamation in the Netherlands. Uitgeverij Matrijs, 1993.
