Dutch painters
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Water Management

The people of the Netherlands have in all times lived nearby the water and there have been many close encounters throughout the history. More than half of the area of the country is below the level of the Sea, the name of the country is obviously a result of this. About 60% of the 16 million population, live in these low areas, therefore an effective system of water control is needed to keep the land dry and habitable.

In previous ice ages, the latest 180,000-130,000 years ago, Europe and parts of the Netherlands were covered with glacier ice and the surface of the sea were several metres below the level of today. Some 10,000 years ago, the temperature started to rise, the ice melted, the water in the oceans increased and the surface rose.

The oldest natural dike is the line of dunes along the coast of Holland and Zeeland. They were created by heavy onshore wind and were about 10 metres high. Small plants and grass and their roots were enough to keep the sand that had been blown in from moving, and the dunes grew. The younger dunes were created between 12th and 17th centuries when the vegetation of the western coast were cut down and a major sand-drift started. The new sand covered the old dunes and shaped the younger dunes of today. Many cities, villages and roads in the Netherlands are habitable today because of these dunes. If they had not been there some areas would be impossible to live in.

In those days much of present-day Netherlands were covered with water, for example the whole area above Amsterdam were filled with small lakes that were in direct connection to the sea. The first ones to build some kind of protection to hold the water back was the Frisians who settled in the northern areas more than 2000 years ago. They built their houses on hills called terpen. Around year 50 BC the powerful Roman Empire and their leader Julius Caesar started to move up north and made the river Rijn a natural northern border of their Empire. The Romans started to build roads and houses, but they also intrduced the first real hydraulic works. They built the first dam in the Rijn valley near Kleef. They also dug the first canals, the Vliet and Schie.

Around the 10th century, inhabitants started to think about building something to keep the water from the sea away from their farms. These first dikes were low and simple and did not last very long. The abbeys started to work on the recovery of new land. They started the diking-in and created polders that had to be drained off. The technique of building dikes got better and in the 16th and 17th century many lakes could be dried. These projects were financed by rich traders and businessmen. When the polder was dry, they could make money on renting the piece of land to farmers.
The reclamation of land started with outlet sluices that was suppose to drain of the land at low tide. Then there were windmills pumping the excess water and today they have been replaced with electricity- and diesel-driven pumps.

Between 1000 and 1953, there were no less than 111 serious and less serious floods in the western part of the Netherlands.