River Delta Programme

The aim of the Delta Programme is to make the Netherlands able to stand up to climate change in the coming decades. The River Delta Programme (DPR) is intended to afford the Netherlands sufficient protection against inundation from the main rivers and to provide sufficient fresh water until 2100. Together with Acacia Water, we have developed two extreme spatial visions in a number of area sessions with the region: What happens if you solve all the problems with dykes? What happens if you solve all the problems by widening the rivers (extending the flood basin)?

The stake in the Spatial Vision 'Do more with dykes' is the maintenance and strengthening of the great diversity of landscape and cultural historical qualities. This calls for a nuanced approach that takes the great landscape diversity into account. At the same time, the number of solutions chosen must not lead to a fragmented dyke scenario. It is a question of finding the right nuance, of aiming for unity in diversity, and of weighing up pros and cons at the right scale level.

The landscape of the winter bed of the rivers is determined to a large extent by geomorphological processes. The creation of canals in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries has added an extra landscape layer to that. The stake in the Spatial Vision 'Space for the river plus' is the utilisation of these landscape and geomorphological characteristics and canal structures of the River Maas to develop a robust landscape framework in which existing and future functions are harmonised in the choice of a location and unexpected developments can be accommodated. Besides drawing up these visions, we have evaluated the River Delta Programme packages of measures and made proposals for adjustments.

In the succeeding stage we developed the Preferential Strategy with the region. On the basis of the two spatial visions, and with the help of a calculating module developed by Acacia Water, we were able to engage in an interactive process to arrive at a package of measures that has the support of the region, solves the water problem, and is at the service of the desired future development of landscape, recreation and nature in the Maas region.