Today, we got on a private transfer bus super early at 8:20 AM to The Delta Works. The Delta Works is a series of dikes, flood barriers, and polders in Southwest Netherlands, built to protect the country from floods like the one in February of 1953, which killed 1800 people. The Netherlands is so low to sea level it just barely manages to stay afloat and also has some of the busiest richest ports in the world, so its water defense needs to be fortified.
The Delta Works took about 44 years to complete, starting in 1953 and ending in 1997. The project shortens the Southwest coastline by close to 700 km and include hydraulic engineering feats that have never been carried out before. In the beginning, the sand-bed needed to be vibrated to be compacted, which took about 3 years before a giant mattress could be placed above to hold the pillars. The main flood gates built around the area we visited included a total of 64 pillars, each weighing 80,000 tons or the same as 15 million humans. The bridge which allows cars to pass overhead has 68 pieces in total, and the gates are gigantic and made of solid steel about 6 meters high. All of the pipes and parts used to place the pieces in the water and slide the barriers in and out of place require about 700,000 liters of lubricant. The project in total cost 9 billion euros during the time but adjusting for inflation would be about 70 billion euros today. Below is a picture of one of the spare 80,000-ton pillars which served as a backup.
The tour briefly touched on sustainability factors, and one of the most notable points was the design choice to use a flood gate, instead of a barrier that’s completed submerged year-round. Although making a barrier would be way easier and less time consuming, the gate design allows for the ocean ecosystem to thrive and be undisrupted. Another less promising feature they noted was that the gate was not built with climate change in mind, so the original projection of 100–200-year lifespan is most likely inaccurate. Rising sea levels will most likely takeover the project and render it useless way before that mark.
One other slight thing I noticed was how quickly the Dutch were willing to enact major change after a sever accident. Culturally, I think America is very used to just enduring reoccurring issues without enacting clear and concise change that lasts through presidencies. There is no one program we can all agree on. But seeing the Delta Works inspired me to believe humans can come together and solve an issue when faced with big enough danger.
Anyways, today was great, and I am sad we only have two more days.
P.S. We saw seals today beached on an island; they were adorable.
Welterusten!