Day 9 was our big visit to the delta works and honestly I had a great time. In 1953 in the southern part of the Netherlands there was a huge flood that broke their dikes at the time and killed over 1800 people. After that the country decided to make the delta plan as a way to protect their citizens. On our visit to the last finished dam we did everything from a water slide to a storm simulator (both of which I absolutely recommend).
The delta works itself is what really surprised me in the end. Over the course of 40 years the whole southern part of the Netherlands essentially rebuilt themselves and built a whole new water protection system. The whole project costs around 6 billion dollars which to me sounded kind of low. I understand that 6 billion is an insane amount of money but the delta works is an entirely new project so they had to do all the research and development in that cost. Along with that they built an extra concrete structure that they never even used which means during construction they didn’t even mess up once. Also when compared to America the Dutch have a protective approach while we usually just react. The Dutch had one flood and build a huge impenetrable barrier meant to stand for decades. On the contrast we usually wait for a bigger storm to come to increase our fortifications. So we base our defenses on the past and not on the future.
The delta works are built to stand for over one hundred years which is where it’s big sustainability aspect comes into play. From now and far into the future the dams will be protecting thousand of homes people and animals so all those resources don’t need to be replenished. With all that rebuilding would come all of the emissions from transports of good and all of the lost ecconomic value that could’ve been gained if the area stayed intact the whole time. Overall the delta works was an investment in the future of Dutch culture and a savior for the entire country.
