Keeping Our Feet Dry - The Ripple Effect: The Fate of Freshwater in the Twenty-First Century - page 199

each as long as the Eiffel Tower and twice as heavy, which hold floating gates that swing
together to defend the nation from wind-driven waves. Completed in 1997, the barri-
er—one of the longest moving structures in the world—is a key piece in Holland's $7.5
billion Delta Works, a network of dikes, dams, and locks that were designed to per-
manently end the floods. With protection from a once-in-ten-thousand-year storm, the
Dutch are considered the master builders of flood defenses.
The Maeslant Barrier remained unused until November 2007, when a big storm
whipped out of the northwest and pounded the Dutch coast with tall waves. In re-
sponse, the Maeslant and other barriers, such as the Hartelkering and the Ooster-
scheldekering, were closed. The barriers worked flawlessly, and the nation was spared.
But the Dutch realized that even these enormous storm gates would not be sufficient to
hold back the rising seas that will result from a warming climate.
Considering its future risk, the Dutch asked, what is required to flood-proof the na-
tion for two hundred years? A team of experts called the Delta Committee has sugges-
ted innovative solutions—abandoning some existing turf to the water; extending other
parts of the coast as far as 2.5 miles out to sea; using parks as floodplains; building a new
generation of flood barriers, dunes, dikes, and retention ponds; and designing floating
houses. This stormproofing will cost about $1.5 billion a year for a hundred years, the
Dutch estimate. And the nation is prepared to spend the money.
This is a key point. While Holland's success “looks like science and engineering,” said
Piet Dircke , a Dutch water management consultant, “the main lesson is funding.” Since
the Middle Ages, the country has used elected bodies called water boards to levy taxes
solely to fund flood defenses. Flood defenses require constant tending, and the Dutch
water boards ensure that there is always enough money to “keep our feet dry.”
Inspired by the flood-protection systems of Holland, Bea and his colleagues are trying
to pioneer a new approach to flood control. One aspect of this initiative is to change the
way the Army Corps of Engineers operates. Some in the Corps remain skeptical of him,
but Bea wants to put the animosity aside, gather all of the nation's leading flood experts,
including those from the Corps, and share technical notes. “That's the only way we're
going to fix this damn thing,” he said. “And it is very broken.”
He concedes that the Corps has good levee designs on its topics and has occasionally
built successful flood-control systems. he Mississippi River and Tributaries Project
(MRTP), for example, has proven largely effective at flood control, and Bea would like
to see its integrated approach emulated elsewhere. The MRTP has four components:
high, strongly built levees for containing floodwaters; floodways for diverting excess
water past critical sections of the river; canal improvements and stabilization, to protect
levees, increase the water-carrying capacity of the river, and provide efficient naviga-