Shelter from the storms
Dutch painting reached its climax in the 17th Century, the Golden Age. When tulips were introduced from Turkey in the 1500s, flower cultivation became all the rage. Horticulture has thrived ever since and a day trip to the gardens at Keukenhof is de rigueur for visitors to Amsterdam. But there is an attraction which most visitors miss: the Delta Project, a marvel of civil engineering and a 20th Century achievement to rival the pyramids. The great storm surge barrier on the Eastern Scheldt is about 70km from Rotterdam. It’s a little difficult to get to but worth the effort.
The engineering tradition is much older than those of tulip-growing and painting. The Dutch really know how to control and manage water; when it comes to dyke dam and canal construction, they are unsurpassed. Their skills, honed over the centuries, will be much in demand elsewhere in the world, as the ice-caps melt and sea levels rise.
The Netherlands, as the name implies, was once a land of swamps. A thousand years ago, people lived on sandy islands, their homes perched on mounds. Earthworks linked the dunes forming the first dykes. Then areas were enclosed and sluices installed to control water levels: polders had been created. With the invention of windmills, 600 years ago, pumps could empty the polders.
The best way to defeat the sea is to reduce the length of the coastline. Completed in 1934, the great barrier dyke, across the mouth of the Zuider Zee, cut 700km off the Dutch coast. When engineers surveyed the shattered sea defences after the flood disaster of 1953, it was clear another great stretch of coastline should be removed; just repairing the dykes would not be enough. A monumentally ambitious project got underway; a wall would be built across the great delta of the Rhine, Maas and Schelde. This would require eight dykes, some of them incorporating surge barriers and locks through which ships could pass. Construction would take 30 years but the long-term benefits would be enormous; 700km of coast would shrink to just 25. There would, however, be a downside; a huge estuarine area used by tens of thousands of migrating birds and supporting a thriving shellfish industry looked set to be destroyed.
The Delta Act was passed in 1958 and, in the same year, the first new structure, a storm barrier east of Rotterdam, was completed. By 1971, six major dykes had been constructed. Only the Eastern Scheldt dam, which would be 8km long, remained to be built. It would shut out the sea, completely altering the ecology of a vast area. The environment mattered little to people in the cash-strapped post-war 1950s when the great scheme was first mooted but, two decades later, the winds of change were blowing. A fledgling environmental lobby wanted to keep the Scheldt open to the tides, although the cost of doing so would be gigantic and the engineering problems formidable. The establishment closed ranks but, in 1974, the political dam burst; the government conceded that the area would remain tidal but with the water levels controlled. Engineers, now in totally uncharted waters, had to build a barrier which allowed the tide to enter but which could be closed if a tsunami, such as that of 1953, threatened.
Visiting the Delta Project 25 years ago, I saw some of the 65 huge concrete piers of the storm surge barrier being constructed. The gigantic scale of the operation left an indelible impression. This year, I returned to Neeltja Jans, an artificial island beside the barrier, which has an exhibition and interpretative centre. The nearby control station monitors winds, tides and water levels throughout the region. The great barrier can be closed to shut out the sea within an hour.
The Eastern Scheldt, once condemned to destruction, is now a marine park, with a unique community of plants and animals. The estuary, a nursery for baby cod, plaice and herring, is still visited each winter by multitudes of wildfowl and wading birds.
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