Story overview

Along the Dutch coast there are more than 250 kilometres of dunes. This is not only a beautiful natural area, but also a vital natural buffer against storm surges and floods. What happens if this buffer fails? Processes such as dune erosion and flooding can strike in a matter of hours, with major consequences. At Deltares, we want to better understand and predict these processes to keep our coast safe. Can artificial intelligence (AI) help us do this?

The International Meuse Symposium is a conference where scientists exchange knowledge on water-related topics. There are hundreds water conferences every year - what makes this conference unique is the Meuse basin as central topic and the open character of the symposium. Everyone who is interested in the Meuse or its catchment can attend, and what is presented in talks and posters is basically relevant for the participants, because it happens in their “home catchment.

What is the condition of the dykes in the Dutch province of Zeeland? How strong are the revetments used to clad them thirty years ago? These are important questions for the Scheldestromen water authority because a large proportion of the dykes they manage have stone revetments. Research by Deltares is helping them to decide where best to target their capacity and maintenance budget. Tensile tests were conducted on behalf of Rijkswaterstaat this summer on the dyke bordering the Zimmerman polder.

How do we make our waterways and associated infrastructure fit for the future? Changes in inland navigation require new designs of locks, for instance, if they are to be more resistant to collisions. At the Sambeek lock, Deltares is mapping the sailing speeds of inland vessels for Rijkswaterstaat, which can use it to adjust design requirements.

Does elephant grass like wet feet? Exactly how wet can they be? And does growing this crop help against peat degradation, land subsidence and thus greenhouse gas emissions? Deltares researchers Siem Jansen and Jesse Reusen hope to find answers to these questions in a meadow in Zegveld, Zuid-Holland.

As the sea level rises and water demands increase, will we still have enough drinking water for our growing coastal population in twenty years from now? With the University of Utrecht, Deltares is working on increasingly accurate models of fresh and saline groundwater distribution in coastal regions to map out current and future resources of drinking water. These models are helping drinking water company Dunea to explore new sources of drinking water and adapt its freshwater extraction strategies.

One of the challenges facing Zeeland is to combat the desiccation and salinisation of agricultural land. How Schouwen-Duiveland will also have sufficient freshwater in the future is being investigated in a Living Lab of which Deltares is part. Researchers from Deltares are working with farmers, governments and other knowledge institutions to test new, smart ways of drainage in the field.

The extreme rainfall this spring led to damage and disruption in many parts of the Netherlands. Floris Boogaard, an urban water management expert, is calling for a wadi in every street. “Our public spaces can cope with many consequences of climate change by collecting water." To build confidence in these climate-adaptive measures among concerned residents and to develop knowledge with civil servants, he is going to Groningen today.

To what extent do changes in the intertidal zone, places that run dry at low tide, affect waves and currents? And how does this affect the formation of channels and mudflats of an estuary as a whole? To better understand this and collect data with which to test numerical models, Reinier Schrijvershof regularly travels to the Eems estuary in eastern Groningen for his PhD research.

How can Deltares help to preserve and restore biodiversity? Sacha de Rijk and Antonios Emmanouil are working on combining knowledge and on establishing a sound dialogue between ecologists and engineers. Both disciplines are needed to combat biodiversity loss.

Barry Ros is a project manager for the Fryslân water authority, which wants to investigate how natural measures can help to make future-resilient dykes. Wetterskip Fryslân, together with Deltares, University of Twente and TU Delft, is studying the effect of salt marsh grass and foreland on the force of waves reaching the dyke. As a result, a dyke may need less space.

Each year, hundreds of international water managers, engineers and scientists visit Deltares. The visitors come to work with us on joint research projects, to attend events such as the Delft Software Days, and to consult us for strategic water issues. Many of our visitors stay in Delft for several days or weeks. By visiting these highlights, you will enjoy your visit to Deltares even more.