News item | 08-11-2023 | 12:00
More primary flood defenses, such as dunes and dikes, must be strengthened to meet the new, partly stricter water safety standards everywhere by 2050. This is as expected: the new standards came into effect in 2017 and the last estimate dates from 2014. The managers expect this to lead to a more significant task and higher costs.
Minister Mark Harbers (Infrastructure and Water Management) reported this to the House of Representatives today.
Minister Harbers: “Our dikes, storm surge barriers, dams and dunes have traditionally protected the Netherlands against the water. And that is literally of vital importance. We now see that sea levels are rising and river discharges are increasing due to longer periods of precipitation. Living and working safely below sea level cannot be taken for granted, which is why the work on our structures is never finished. Rijkswaterstaat and the water boards always monitor whether they need to be addressed and thus continuously ensure our safety. It is good that we now have a better idea of what reinforcements will be needed in the future to keep the Netherlands as safe as possible.”
The primary defenses are strengthened through the Flood Protection Program. Within this framework, the government, water boards, provinces and municipalities take measures to absorb the consequences of climate change. Without our dikes and dunes, about half of the Netherlands could be flooded.
Bigger task
In 2014, an estimate was made of the number of kilometers of primary barriers that needed to be reinforced. At the time it was thought that it was about 1500 kilometers. There is now more knowledge about the strength of the dikes and the costs of reinforcements have increased.
Over the past six years, the managers have assessed all barriers based on new, some of them stricter, standards. This has led to a new estimate: managers now expect that approximately 2,000 kilometers of primary flood defenses will need to be tackled between now and 2050. This is an initial estimate: only once a reinforcement project has been planned will it be carefully examined which part actually needs to be reinforced.
A larger task obviously entails more costs. If the current financial agreements are continued, €12.6 billion will be available until 2050. However, the first rough cost estimate shows that more money is needed. It is still very uncertain how much is needed in total. This also indicates the wide bandwidth: the estimate is between €15.7 billion and €32.9 billion. The ministry, together with water managers, is now working on how the precise statement in kilometers and costs can be tightened up.
Working together with water
In November 2022, Minister Harbers announced on behalf of the cabinet to make water and soil ‘steering’ in spatial planning. This means, among other things, that dikes not only have to be raised and widened, but that it is also necessary to reserve space for future dike reinforcements or river widenings.