Haarlem wants to investigate whether a few filled-in canals and waterways can be dug open again. Not out of nostalgia, but out of pure necessity. More open water is needed in the city to cope with the increasingly heavy rain showers. This is stated in the recently published Urban Water Plan, on which the last word has not yet been said. Because the price tag for the excavation work alone is already 28.6 million euros.
Haarlem is a city with an outdated sewer system in which wastewater and rainwater are collected. It is also a petrified city with little open ground through which rain can quickly sink. That’s why they already feel the mood at city hall. Major measures must be taken to combat flooding, is the conclusion of a study.
Critical point
In recent years, more and more rain has fallen than the city can handle. The safety standards that Haarlem applies to check whether the drainage system works well enough are reaching a critical point. The streets are not flooded when a maximum of 29 millimeters of rain falls per hour, as happens every few years. With a rainfall of 70 millimeters per hour, which is expected once every hundred years, the sewer can remove the water before it flows into the buildings. And importantly, the main roads are still passable.
But in recent months it has become apparent that gardens, alleys, squares and houses were still filling up. The basement houses in the Sinnevelt neighborhood of Haarlem, which until now have been easy to keep dry, can no longer cope with the current high groundwater level. The water seeps in through the cavity wall, resident Terenja Dors recently told the city council members.
Text continues after the archive photo of a flooded Planetenlaan in 2021.
The municipality is already planning to refurbish the outdated sewer. Various places in the city are also looking at how they can better collect excess rainwater. Such as on the Jan Haringstraat in the Bomenbuurt with a large concrete box under an artificial grass korfball court, where excess water is collected. And in the redesign of it Sports park on the Schipholweg in Haarlem-Zuid, a football field will probably have to disappear in order to build a pond.
But all that is not enough. A first conclusion in the Urban Water Plan is that 7.2 kilometers of roads can be excavated over the next fifteen years to give free rein to the water. And these are precisely the canals and waterways, which were sometimes filled in less than half a century ago.
Text continues after the past and present images of the Amsterdam canal that ends at the Amsterdamse Poort.
The plan to make the Amsterdamsevaart open water again is not new. The Trekvaart was a water connection with Amsterdam from 1631. In the 1970s, the water from De Liede was filled with soil to provide more space for car traffic between the cities. It became an important access road for the city.
But less than ten years ago, some of the asphalt already replaced by green. Traffic now has to enter and leave the city via the Waarderpolder business park. The romantic idea back then was to let the water flow again in the Amsterdamsevaart. That turned out to be a bridge too far at the time, but now it seems to be a dire necessity and a quick solution to get more surface water.
Subsequently, water must also return the Gedempte Oostersingelgracht and the Papentorenvest, so that the water can flow from De Liede to the Spaarne again. This could be the first route where the shovel goes into the ground. The year 2026 has already been carefully written in pencil in the plan.
Text continues after this map from the municipality’s Urban Water Plan showing the filled-in canals and waterways that may be able to reopen.
The Industrial Port in the Waarderpolder, the Asiaweg and the Floris van Adrichemlaan are also on the list in the Urban Water Plan. These were not previously waterways. But the Westergracht in Haarlem-West is a no-brainer. The Delft could be connected again to the Houtvaart along the Western Randweg.
Text continues after the image of the Oudegracht in the center of the city, as it is today and as drawn by an artist in 1859.
The height of romance is the idea of excavating the Gedempte Oudegracht in the old city over a kilometer and a half. This canal used to be the boundary of the city and was filled in in 1859.
The plan to make a shortcut from the Spaarne to the Delft in Haarlem-Noord is very ambitious. The Spanjevaartstraat is mentioned as a possible location. But in this part of the city, many houses are close together. There is already a battle raging over the limited space for cars and green parks.
Text continues after images from then and now of the Spanjevaartstraat in Haarlem-Noord.
Price tag for dry feet
The municipal council is not alone in choosing between asphalt, greenery and water. The plan for excavating several routes is also not small. You can feel that in your water. The cost calculation of 28.6 million does not even include the construction of quay walls, bridges and costs for relocating pipes. Let alone the costs of building materials and personnel, which are expected to continue to rise.
The Haarlemmer can expect part of that bill in the amount of the sewerage tax. Although the sewerage tax has already increased by 13 euros this year, that tax is still much lower than in other cities. But that will change if the plans are actually implemented.
Text continues after the video of a street in Haarlem-Noord that was flooded during heavy rainfall in 2019.
Flooding Haarlem in 2019 – NH News / Geja Sikma
The price tag for dry feet means a doubling of the sewerage tax in the next ten years. This can be done all at once or through a gradual increase of a few tens of euros per year.
The Haarlem city council must make decisions during this administrative period. Will the Haarlem street scene return to the past, where the cows stand on the waterfront of the Westergracht? Or will it remain a place where the car, today’s sacred cow, drives on the asphalt of the Westergracht? But then open water will return in other streets anyway. Because the rain cannot be stopped.