News

Today Deltares presented the new Delta Scenarios to Minister Mark Harbers (Infrastructure and Water Management) and Delta Commissioner Co Verdaas. Four scenarios show what we need to take into consideration in policy for water and spatial planning until the end of this century. In all four, the agendas relating to water will become a lot more challenging: freshwater shortages in summer will increase, there will be more problems with excess water caused by rainfall, and floods will have more impact. Bottlenecks relating to water shortages, problems with excess water and flood risk management are stacking up. That will affect all of the Netherlands.

How do we exploit the opportunities of soils in our spatial planning? The European project SPADES (Spatial Planning And DEsign with Soil) focuses on securing soils in spatial developments, as part of the Mission A Soil Deal for Europe. Researchers are tackling this question in seventeen locations in Europe, including two in the Netherlands. Deltares is coordinating this project together with TU Delft.

On behalf of Rijkswaterstaat, Deltares is measuring groundwater quality around the IJmuiden lock complex. For the construction of the Sea Lock and the salt barrier, which carries salt water back to sea, the bottom of the North Sea Canal was deepened. This allows salt seawater to come into contact with fresh or brackish groundwater. Whether this happens and leads to salinisation of the deeper groundwater is monitored by Deltares through a groundwater monitoring network.

The coming days, mangroves will have a lot to endure during an experiment in our Delta Flume. Researchers from Deltares and TU Delft are gradually increasing the force on the trees. They’re testing how strong the mangrove trees are under extreme wave conditions and how mangroves can help protect coastlines.

The European LandSeaLot project will establish an observation strategy for European land-sea interfaces, which play a major role in improving biodiversity, CO2 capture and climate resilience. A range of scientific expertises will be combined with stakeholder recommendations, establishing a picture of the potential of land-sea interfaces. Deltares is coordinating this research.

Scientists at Deltares have developed a cutting-edge global coastal Digital Terrain Model (DTM) at 1 arc-second (~30 m) resolution. In our work, we extensively use elevation models as input for our numerical models, but we noticed that current, freely available elevation models are not accurate enough for our purposes. Our experts decided to create a new elevation model, making use of the latest remote sensing data.

In the Netherlands, dikes protect us against floods, and in Italy and other mountainous countries protection barriers can help protect against landslides. The Flowslide Impact Modelling (FIM) project, coordinated by Deltares, tests which barriers work best.

To investigate the environmental impact and sustainability of offshore solar fields, Deltares is participating in the Nautical SUNRISE project. This project examines opportunities and challenges around scaling up and operating offshore floating solar systems. Deltares is looking at what wave power does to a floating solar farm and its effects on marine ecosystems. As a test site, the world's largest offshore floating solar power system will soon be realised on a wind farm 53 kilometres off the Dutch west coast.

Deltares is once again opening its doors to innovative initiatives from Dutch start-ups and SMEs. After four successful editions in previous years, Deltares will offer free access to its experimental facilities in 2024. This initiative aims to increase interaction with SMEs.

Cities are crucial in the fight against climate change, but their efforts must be integrated with those at local, regional, and national levels. A new paper highlights the importance of a multi-level governance approach, the need for collaboration, and regular and sustained dialogue. The paper is a follow-up from COP28 in Dubai.

Do wood chips help to clean up water in ditches? A range of organisations and government authorities are currently investigating this issue in Westerbeek in the Dutch province of Noord-Brabant. The initial results are positive.

The Netherlands has hundreds of wildfires every year. They are often small but the potential consequences are significant. A group of researchers led by Wageningen University & Research, working with wildfire experts from Deltares, the Dutch Fire Department, and the Spanish company Technosylva, has drawn up an overview of the numbers and impact of wildfires in the Netherlands for the first time since 1994, when official registration stopped.