CaptainPanic Posted January 5, 2012 Posted January 5, 2012 First of all, there's no real danger to people. The problems I describe below are minor. And the main problem is excess rainwater, which cannot drain away because we're below sea level. We've had a pretty wet december, and last week we've had strong winds and lots of rain on top of it. It's been wind force 8-9 for 3 days in a row now. Nothing really out of the ordinary, and the types of problems below are also something that will occur almost once every year in some form or another. But still, it's in the news all over the country, and I thought this would be entertaining to read. So, the situation is the following: we've had lots of rain. All that rainwater collects in the smallest canals, which form a grid in a certain area, called a polder. Then it must be pumped into the main canals by many relatively small pumps. And then this water must be pumped out to sea or a large lake (which itself drains into the sea) by other larger pumps. The problem now is that (1) we've had lots of rain, and (2) the water in the lake/sea is a little higher than normal because of a strong wind from the northwest, making it harder to pump water out. Also, the wind can actually also push the water up in a canal. And in addition, the land must be kept dry, so we can't stop pumping water into the canals - certainly not in the populated areas. So, because of all that, the canals into which the water is being pumped are getting so high in some areas that they can flood back into the land. Sounds a little weird to be at risk of flooding from a canal. But we are. 85 people have been evacuated (article in English). It's a small area, but frontpage news. The officials are considering to deliberately flood some parts of the country to temporarily store water. The risk of floods is so real that the largest still operational steam pumps in the world have been started up to remove the water from those canals in low lying parts. Here's a movie, with commentry in Dutch, but pictures speak for themselves. It runs on fuel oil, and can pump 4,500 m3/minute with a head of 1 meter (it pumps that water up by 1 meter). This pump is not in the same region as the highest risk of flooding... but it is getting pretty wet everywhere. In addition, a large inflatable rubber dam (balgstuw) has been activated to protect some other parts of the country. This site shows it still under construction, and here's a picture of the finished dam being tested. Strong winds push water and increase water levels on our biggest lake (not the sea), so this is not so much to get water our, as to prevent more water from coming in. Later this week, the rivers are expected to reach their peak flows, and high water is expected along the river dikes when the water from Germany comes down through the Netherlands on its way to sea. At the moment that's nothing to worry about though. The funny thing is that none of the waterworks mentioned here are on the coast. All the problems occur inland because of excess rainwater. I believe I read somewhere that the seawater is also +2.3 meters above average, but nobody seems worried about that. 1
michel123456 Posted January 5, 2012 Posted January 5, 2012 (edited) I was thinking about some absolutely dumb solutions like: 1.digging a hole to put the water in. 2.heating the water to vaporize it 3.pumping the water into a tanker floating in the river 4.drinking water instead of beer 5. use the water to make beer and increase heineken's exportations. 6.freezing the water into icebergs floating on the canals Then I thought if the iceberg was not floating, it could be some solution. If the average temperature is already low, that wouldn't be too difficult to freeze clear rainy water and built circular dams with ice. They will melt of course but slowly. Maybe if real cold comes, it may not melt at all and save you. Edited January 5, 2012 by michel123456
Phi for All Posted January 5, 2012 Posted January 5, 2012 7. Keep drinking beer, send the water to Greece. 1
michel123456 Posted January 5, 2012 Posted January 5, 2012 7. Keep drinking beer, send the water to Greece. Yes. I wonder why not build some north-south aqueduct.
John Cuthber Posted January 5, 2012 Posted January 5, 2012 Meh! try England, we can have floods and a drought at the same time.
Phi for All Posted January 5, 2012 Posted January 5, 2012 Meh! try England, we can have floods and a drought at the same time. 4b. Drink the water, go to England's drought areas, use their bathrooms, return to the Netherlands. Repeat until flooding subsides.
StringJunky Posted January 5, 2012 Posted January 5, 2012 (edited) 4b. Drink the water, go to England's drought areas, use their bathrooms, return to the Netherlands. Repeat until flooding subsides. It is an insane weather pattern in England sometimes having even all four seasons weather occuring in a such a relatively small area (50 000 sq miles approx) at the same time. I think we are situated in the goldilocks zone for nutty weather. I think it's our climate here that makes us such a tolerant and diverse nation...being English is not a genetic attribute...it's a shared state of mind, forced upon us by our weather. Edited January 5, 2012 by StringJunky
DrRocket Posted January 6, 2012 Posted January 6, 2012 4b. Drink the water, go to England's drought areas, use their bathrooms, return to the Netherlands. Repeat until flooding subsides. z Surely you could use the water to brew beer and drink that. With that modification it sounds like a good plan.
CaptainPanic Posted January 6, 2012 Author Posted January 6, 2012 Yes. I wonder why not build some north-south aqueduct. We're already bringing the water to our borders (with the sea). You're welcome to pick it up at the border. I don't think we'll charge you for it.
michel123456 Posted January 6, 2012 Posted January 6, 2012 We're already bringing the water to our borders (with the sea). You're welcome to pick it up at the border. I don't think we'll charge you for it. That is salt water. I was speaking about fresh water.
CaptainPanic Posted January 6, 2012 Author Posted January 6, 2012 We're already bringing the water to our borders (with the sea). You're welcome to pick it up at the border. I don't think we'll charge you for it. That is salt water. I was speaking about fresh water. Me too. We pump fresh water out of the low lying land, and into the rivers and main canals, and finally out to sea. Obviously, you should pick it up before it mixes with seawater.
michel123456 Posted January 6, 2012 Posted January 6, 2012 (edited) Me too. We pump fresh water out of the low lying land, and into the rivers and main canals, and finally out to sea. Obviously, you should pick it up before it mixes with seawater. I know that the main river in Belgium (Scheldt -Schelde- Escaut)that ends in Holland is so low that it is flowing backward for more than 40 km inside of the land at high tide . I have seen this at Dendermonde. So if you do that in this river, you may cause problems to a serious part of Belgium. I mean the water may not flow out at sea, but inside at land. Edited January 6, 2012 by michel123456
CaptainPanic Posted January 6, 2012 Author Posted January 6, 2012 I know that the main river in Belgium (Scheldt -Schelde- Escaut)that ends in Holland is so low that it is flowing backward for more than 40 km inside of the land at high tide . I have seen this at Dendermonde. So if you do that in this river, you may cause problems to a serious part of Belgium. I mean the water may not flow out at sea, but inside at land. Correct. There are a number of such arms of the sea, where tides used to bring salt water in with high tide, and both riverwater and seawater would flow out at low tide. The Dutch have blocked off most of those sea arms in order to reduce the total length of coastline (so that we can spend more money on fewer kilometers of defense against the sea). In a few cases, we couldn't block a river altogether (water would obviously have to get out somewhere), so there we placed doors that open when the sea is lower than the river, and close when the sea gets so high that the current would reverse. Here's a movie (again in Dutch). The best explanation that anyone can understand is at 5.09. No need to speak Dutch for that. A similar system is used at the Afsluitdijk (there are two on that dike). There are still a few places where salt water is allowed in: Rotterdam harbor, for obvious reasons and the Oosterschelde, which does have a barrier, but that only closes in case of dangerously high water. Actually, we can also close off Rotterdam harbor now with two giant doors. Only the Schelde was kept completely open, because blocking off Antwerp harbor would have made the Belgians angry, and the water is too wide to place moving barriers... so that is still salty.
michel123456 Posted January 6, 2012 Posted January 6, 2012 The officials are considering to deliberately flood some parts of the country to temporarily store water. Is that about Ijsselmeer? (as I understand from the video you linked) Do they plan to go back to the times of zuiderzee? That would look like nature's revenge.
CaptainPanic Posted January 9, 2012 Author Posted January 9, 2012 The officials are considering to deliberately flood some parts of the country to temporarily store water. Is that about Ijsselmeer? (as I understand from the video you linked)Do they plan to go back to the times of zuiderzee? That would look like nature's revenge. No, they really wanted to flood some farmlands, and temporarily turn those into small lakes. In fact, they did deliberately flood a few hectares. The video I showed was only about letting water out, not in. I do not think that the IJsselmeer (lake), which was indeed previously the Zuiderzee (sea) will ever become salty again. Right now, the situation has stabilized, and it seems that there is no danger anymore. I guess that within a couple of weeks, those flooded lands will also be dry again... in time for the grazing season of spring/summer. The cows never noticed a thing.
Athena Posted January 11, 2012 Posted January 11, 2012 4b. Drink the water, go to England's drought areas, use their bathrooms, return to the Netherlands. Repeat until flooding subsides. Now this sounds like a great solution. Perhaps everyone can bicycle back and forth, to conserve on fuel.
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