Day Eleven began at an early 7:15 AM, but I was thankfully able to get to bed early the previous night and woke up with only a small headache. Someone then offered me a Tylenol, which made me feel a lot better. I was able to squeeze in another 90-minute nap on the bus ride down to the Delta Works in Neeltje Jans, Zeeland. This was our only activity for the day, and I found it interesting to explore the construction of the storm surge barrier, as well as to get some extra information about the Floods of 1953 (which we visited two days ago at the Watersnoodmuseum). That being said, I couldn’t help but feel that there were a lot of children at the facility, and the large groups of kids distracted from the museum portion. We then took the bus back at around 4:30 PM, during which I was able to get another nap in. I then took a tram for 15 minutes and paid nearly €20 to do my laundry (after I thought that the €7.50 was ridiculous at our last hotel), and grabbed some “American” food on the way back.

One factor of our visit to the Delta Works today that I found interesting relates to how rapidly technology in the past 100 years has affected the Netherlands in terms of their fight against the ocean. Since 1953, the Dutch government has taken on the massive task of creating flood defenses in the Zeeland and South Holland river deltas. Flood defenses include bigger dykes, new dams, new locks, and the crowning feat of Dutch engineering: the Storm Surge Barrier . The creation of the entire Delta Works is in direct response to the Floods of 1953. For centuries, the only real solution to flood defense in the southern regions of the Netherlands has been the construction of dykes, but they are not a sure-fire solution and can be breached with waves that are stronger and taller than its design limits. However, the last century has brought about a technological advancement that has completely changed the future of the delta region. With the development and implementation of the Oosterscheldekering (Oosterschelde Storm Surge Barrier), salt water and marine life is still free to move between the North Sea and the Oosterschelde, but at times of strong wind or tall waves, barriers can be lowered into the ocean to break up/prevent water from penetrating into the Oosterschelde, thus preventing flooding in the towns and communities in the area. Dutch taxpayers pay about 35 to 40 million euros every year to maintain the Oosterscheldekering which, from a business perspective, may or may not be worth it depending on the economic contributions of the region. But from a moral perspective, the cost of a human life is hard to measure and the 1835 people killed in the flood of 1953 still looms heavy over the Dutch people.

One other aspect of this visit that I thought was interesting was how it ties into the sustanability objectives of the Netherlands. The most obvious example of this is the windmills that can be seen all along the shores of the Oostershelde. According to our guide, a large portion of the power generated for the Delta Works is sustainably sourced. Even while traveling around the Netherlands, there have been hundreds of windmills everywhere we went. I also noticed that unlike the IJsselmeer at the Zuiderzeemuseum, there did not appear to be a restriction of waterflow between the sea and the inlets. One part of our tour of the Zuiderzeemuseum covered how the once saltwater inlet had been blocked off from the North Sea, which had led to the freshwater (or “sweet” water as our host called it!) rivers pushing out the remaining saltwater, turning the IJsselmeer into a freshwater lake. This had enviornmental consequences for the marine life, which could no longer survive in the freshwater. This not only hurt the marine life in area, but also caused shifts in the ecology of the IJsselmeer. The way that the Oosterscheldekering works does not restrict marine life from crossing through the storm surge barriers, and also preserves the salt-water nature of the Oosterschelde.

Overall, this was a very insightful and interesting tour, and I walked away with a lot of technical knowledge about this marvel of engineering. I am excited to visit the floating farm tomorrow, and investigate that from a business perspective.