Dykes will cost the Dutch billions

Low-lying Holland must spend billions of euros on dyke upgrades and coastal expansion to avoid the ravages of rising sea levels due to global warming, experts have warned.

The country must spend billions a year over the next century on additional safety measures, says a report compiled by the government-appointed Delta commission.

“The security challenge is urgent: the climate is changing, the sea level is rising and river flows are increasing, while a quarter of dykes and dams do not meet the current safety norms,” it said.

It said “an extra amount of between €1-billion and €1,5-billion per year is needed until 2100″. The figure represents about 0,3 percent of national income.

‘The Netherlands is well protected against water’
The commission recommended a large-scale upgrade of dykes protecting the country from the North Sea.

And it proposed expanding the North Sea coast by a kilometre by dumping large quantities of sand - a project for which an extra €100 - to €300-million would be needed.

Predicting a sea-level rise of between 0,65m and 1,3m by 2100, and up to 4m by 2200, the commission warned of Dutch fresh-water resources dwindling as salty sea water is forced further inland.

“The rising sea level… longer dry periods and encroaching salt water via rivers and ground water puts the country’s fresh water under threat. This in turn threatens the provision of drinking water, agriculture, shipping and water-related economic sectors.”

The commission said inland areas directly sheltered from the sea and rivers by dykes and dunes contained about nine million of the country’s 16-million inhabitants.

It presented a 12-point plan that involved the upgrading of water barriers, boosting fresh-water reservoirs, increasing river flow capacity and storing surplus river water.

Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende welcomed the report, saying: “The Netherlands is well protected against water… we want to keep it that way.”

Source: Sapa-AFP, Independent Online 4 September 2008