News

Scientists, amongst which Deltares experts, have built a 50-metre scale replica of a coral reef island to explore how its real-life counterparts might be impacted by rising sea levels. The model has been designed to mimic atoll islands in the Maldives and the Pacific Ocean, thought to be among the most vulnerable parts of the planet as the climate changes.

CRIDA, a method for climate resilient water resources planning developed by Deltares and the US Army Corps of Engineers, has achieved ‘flagship initiative’ status within UNESCO.

Deltares experts will be in attendance and will host several sessions during the Stockholm Water Week 2024, which takes place from 25 – 29 August. A key event for the international water sector, this year’s Water Week’s theme is: Bridging Borders: Water for a Peaceful and Sustainable Future.

This year’s Grote Maaskantprijs is awarded to the collective of scientists, governments, companies and civil society organisations behind project NL2120. Deltares is one of the partners in this project. According to the jury, NL2120 offers 'an inspiring perspective on the climate-adaptive, nature-inclusive and CO2-neutral spatial planning of the Netherlands'.

Ageing infrastructure is increasingly in the news. Maintenance work on our grey and green infrastructure is essential to prevent disruption and damage. In the book ‘Asset Management of Urban Drainage Systems’, a number of authors, including experts from Deltares, discuss the latest technologies. There are also chapters looking at legislation and standards, the use of data and decision-making.

The Aquality App (formerly Nitrate App) has added many new features since our collaboration with IBM. We launched the latest update for the App that makes it possible to add measured phosphate and ammonium concentrations and manage groups for sharing measurement results.

A team of international researchers is investigating the potential for the world's low-lying coral atoll islands to withstand predicted sea level rises through natural flooding processes. Last month, Deltares experts Robert McCall and Floortje Roelvink joined the international research team for fieldwork in the Maldives. They collected data to support predictions of how these islands might respond to future sea level changes.

The first edition of the IPDC report was launched today during the 10th World Water Forum in Bali, Indonesia. Introducing the IPDC Guidance Framework for member countries and setting out the challenges faced by deltas, coasts, and islands. The report also provides a solid base for the IPDC’s future activities.

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.