It’s an almost strange sight: everywhere in the Netherlands (and in other countries on this side of Europe) rivers are struggling with historically low water levels. But at Grave the water of the Maas is so high that the benches on the quay next to the river are in the water. There is even a lot of ‘pleasure boating’ in the river. How is that possible?
So if you want to sit by the water in Grave, you risk getting wet feet. This is quite at odds with the situation next to the Rhine and Waal. The water there is very low, and that is special – especially at this time of the year.
“Especially on the Rhine and IJssel”, Erik van den Ouwelant explains. He is harbor master at Grave.
“In the IJssel and the Rhine, some boats are practically dry. But here we still have more than enough space for sailing. You can see that boats know how to find our harbor from all sides.”
“The Maas has all kinds of weirs.”
It is easy to explain why the difference with the Meuse is so great. “The Maas is a dammed river,” explains Rolf Klöckner of Rijkswaterstaat. “The Meuse has all kinds of weirs. Thanks to these weirs we can artificially keep the water in the river high.”
The water at Grave is therefore very high. The Meuse is therefore perfectly ‘navigable’ for ships. But does that mean that the water downstream is actually very low, so that the problem is actually shifted?
“The Maas is the only river that has these weirs.”
“No, that is not necessarily the case,” said Klöckner. “That’s the beauty of it. We can distribute the water well. In any case, the level is only kept high with water that we obtain upstream.”
The question then is: why don’t we also do this for the Waal and the Rhine? This sounds like a simple solution.
“Well, that is a political issue. That again has to do with finances and we would like to leave that in The Hague. Because at the moment the Maas is one of the few rivers that has these weirs. That is expensive, but it is also a major advantage,” explains Klöckner.