Land Reclamation and Flood Protection in the Netherlands: An Historical Overview

The Netherlands is a small country in Western Europe that has faced unique challenges in the area of water control and management. The northern and western part of the country is a flat, lowlying region situated in the delta of three major European Rivers—the Rhine (in Dutch, Rijn), Maas, and Schelde. Over the past 2,000 years the consequences of human habitation and natural events have combined to make life in this region challenging. To use low-lying land for agriculture required removal of excess water by the construction of field drains and ditches. Once dry, the clay and peat soils subsided, requiring further deepening of the drainage network. This began an irreversible pattern of land subsidence that continues today. To make matters worse, a large volume of peat soil was removed for use as fuel. Coinciding with this loss and subsidence of the land was a period of postglacial sea level rise. These factors, along with the natural action of tides and storm surges, have created a landscape that is constantly changing. Today about one-quarter of the Dutch land lies below mean sea level. [This is based on 34,000 square kilometers (13,000 square miles) of dry land including water courses less than 6 meters (20 feet) wide.] Without the benefit of dunes, dikes, canals, and pumps, 65 percent of the land would be under water at high tide. Without the river dikes, even more land would be flooded on a regular basis.