Story overview

Imagine being able to instantly see which coastal areas in Europe are most vulnerable to flooding. And imagine if policymakers, urban planners and insurers could use that information right away to make smarter decisions. That’s exactly what CoCliCo enables: an open-source web platform that provides clear insights into current and future coastal risks—from sea level rise to storm surges and erosion.

Today, on International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction, we reflect on the urgent call to shift from reactive responses to proactive resilience. The theme for 2025: “Fund resilience, not disasters” resonates with our work at Deltares. But what does disaster risk reduction look like in practice? We asked several Deltares colleagues to share their experiences from the field, revealing the human side of disaster risk reduction and the science behind it.

In a world where climate change, water safety, and sustainable infrastructure are becoming increasingly urgent, swift action is essential. But how can we make rapid decisions when reliant on complex computational models that may take hours, days, or even weeks to process? Deltares is investing in model reduction – an innovative technique that enables us to tackle societal challenges both faster and more intelligently.

Every day at Deltares we work on solutions to complex societal challenges. The digital facilities at Deltares play an indispensable role in our mission. We develop software and data products that make our knowledge accessible and impactful in practice - from flood forecasting to smart monitoring of flood defences such as the Maeslant Barrier. Matthijs Huisman is a DevOps engineer and scrum master at Deltares. What inspires him about working here? We asked Matthijs: “What drives you?”

What happens to substances that do not naturally belong in our environment? That question has fascinated Rianne van den Meiracker since she was a child. She is now a researcher at Deltares specialising in anthropogenic substances in groundwater and surface water, working daily to unravel the pathways, effects and solutions for these substances in water and soil.

Behind every accurate payslip and timely payment lies a sharp eye for detail and a passion for precision. Monique is a payroll specialist mainly dealing with complex changes to the payroll system. She checks whether certain calculations are correct and whether payment orders are carried correctly. What inspires her to work at Deltares? We asked Monique: “What drives you?”

How do our rivers remain navigable, how do they help us get fresh water in the future, and how do we prevent flooding? Deltares is deploying its expertise to answer these questions in the Room for the River 2.0 programme. In this programme we are working together with the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, Rijkswaterstaat, regional governments and the business community on a future-proof river area.

Animal burrowing is becoming an increasing problem for the safety of flood defences. Deltares conducted various studies on this issue so that water authorities can take measures to control the flood risks caused by burrowing animals such as beavers.

How can we combat climate change and restore natural ecosystems at the same time? This is the question that Stefano Gamberoni struggles with every day. Stefano is a junior advisor and researcher in the field of Nature-based Solutions and the carbon cycle in coastal areas. What inspires him to work at Deltares? We asked Stefano: "What drives you?"

Our oceans are full of life and this huge biodiversity is important for a healthy ecosystem. There are however several factors that can disrupt this balance, such as turbid ocean water for example. But how do we measure this turbidity and what is its impact? Deltares investigates this together with IMT Atlantique in the European Digital Twin Ocean (EDITO) project. To better understand the so-called 'turbidity field', the latest digital technologies are combined with existing numerical models and satellite data with the Wadden Sea as a pilot.

With increasingly extreme periods of drought and increasing water scarcity, it is important to get a better grip on water use in agriculture. After all, what impact does drought have, and can something be done about it? What role does evaporation play in this and what processes are involved? Deltares is investigating this in the WUNDER project with the aim of developing an improved model to understand the behavior of soil and vegetation during prolonged drought.

The construction of the IJmuiden Sea Lock has significantly deepened the bed of the North Sea Canal there. How has the deepened canal bed affected the fresh groundwater below it? Has the new situation increased the risk of the groundwater around the lock complex becoming saline? Deltares is conducting research on behalf of Rijkswaterstaat. ‘Groundwater changes very slowly, which is why you have to take measurements over a long period of time to be able to detect changes,’ says researcher Pieter Pauw.