First step towards the development of an assessment tool for tailings dams

30 October 2019

Seven incidents worldwide this year Tailings dams are earth structures (sometimes up to 100 metres high) that are used to retain waste from mines (tailings) for decades. Just a few weeks ago, a dam in…

Delta Life magazine no 12

25 October 2019

‘Water stress – whether it involves excess water, water shortages or dirty water – can be one of the factors underlying political instability. It can have an impact on people’s security or the stability of…

Exploitation combined with subsidence require adaptive water management Mekong Delta

24 October 2019

Drought, salinization and subsidence Prolonged periods of drought have forced farmers to increase their use of valuable deep groundwater. Delta-wide challenges that have been attributed to the overexploitation of groundwater include increased salinity in the…

Remotely monitoring safety of mine tailing dams: a joint effort of Brazil and the Netherlands

8 October 2019

795 mine tailing dams in Brazil Tailing dams are earthen embankment structures used to store mine waste for decades ahead. Only a week ago a mine tailings dam ruptured in the state Mato Grosso in…

Groundwater pumping poses worldwide threat to riverine ecosystems

3 October 2019

Strong population growth and economic development over the last 50 years have led to a large increase in demand for fresh water, mainly for the irrigation of food crops. Currently, about half of the world’s…

Scale model tests to assess the effects of a wave energy park

25 September 2019

The tests will be carried out in the Delta Basin with five 1:24 scale models that will be set up in three different configurations with different wave angles. Wave heights in front of and behind…

Online tool visualises effects of sea level rise on dunes

18 September 2019

In recent decades, research on the interaction between the sea and the coast has mainly stopped at the foot of the dunes. The new tool goes a step further and also shows the effects of…

Adaptive planning with global engineering company Aurecon

9 September 2019

The Australian water sector has been under pressure in recent years as a result of weather extremes. The continent has been afflicted by extremely high temperatures and periods of drought but also heavy rainfall and…

New tool shows link between water quality and emissions

5 September 2019

Estimate greenhouse gas emissions and possible cuts It will allow water managers to estimate greenhouse gas emissions and to think about how to cut those emissions. The tool and the initial measurement results were presented…

New elevation model shows that the Mekong Delta is just eighty centimetres above sea level

28 August 2019

That makes related problems like salinisation and flooding even more pressing for the 18 million inhabitants of the delta. Minderhoud’s findings were published today in the authoritative journal Nature Communications. When he was investigating land…