HSRR03b: closing the open Rijnmond - waterfront Rijnmond
Policy measure are needed to keep the flood risk in the Hotspot region within the flood standards for the next century. One of the possible measures is to reinforce the dykes. Especially in urban areas the reinforcement of dykes is socially undesirable and leads to high costs. It might be possible to replace dyke reinforcements with strategically placed moveable high water barriers (to the south and east of the urban area, upstream as well), potentially with an additional connection between the Lek and the Waal. This probably has the additional advantage that within the areas protected by these barriers development at the waterfront can be done at several meters below ‘delta height’, without having to build in an adaptive way at all locations. The connection between the Lek and the Waal could strengthen the Dutch Ecological Network and it poses opportunities for highly valued multifunctional land-water developments.
The research will compare, for different stages of climate change (2010, 2050, 2100 and 2200), possible changes to the physical water system, which will be a combination of:
1. Dyke reinforcement
2. New water connections (or other changes in the 'horizontal geometry')
3. High water regulations
4. Extra pumping stations
5. Adaptive building in (un)protected areas
A promising combination will be tested on physical and legal feasibility and subsequently on the effects for the safety in protected and unembanked areas, water fronts, shipping, ecology and the required investments. These factors will be, wherever possible, expressed in economic terms. After that, an evaluation is done from different cultural and economic perspectives on the main water system, using a societal CBA. In this process it is possible that at a certain step the changes (the combination/design) aren’t feasible or desirable. In that case, another combination will go through the same process, which thus is iterative. The project is finished and a final report is available.
Project results
| Rijcken, Ties (TU Delft-waterbouw) (2010). Afsluitbaar Open Rijnmond - een systeembenadering. Download it on the site (link) of the TU Delft. English summary is available in the publication database. |  |