The Netherlands launches large-scale trial of new flood defences

Flood-Proof Holland, a special site designed to test temporary flood defences, opened on June 17 in Delft.

Methods

Flood-Proof Holland is situated just off the A13, and tests methods of dealing with flooding in the short term.

It will trial various innovative measures to see whether there are better ways to manage floods, other than the traditional "sand-bagging" technique. The schemes on trial will include the Boxbarrier, Green Soil Bag and the Water-Gate. 

Global significance

This project is useful for the Netherlands, considering that a fifth of this country lies below sea-level. But the findings could also be globally useful for public-sector organisations, as well as businesses and research institutions.

This experiment is especially important in light of the recent wide-scale flooding in central Europe.

For more information on Flood-Proof Holland, click here.

Source: TU Delft