Drainage control in water management of polders in the Netherlands

摘要

One of the impacts drainage has on the downstream part of a water system is a higher risk of peak flows caused by heavy precipitation. In the polders of the Netherlands this is a well-known problem. The heavy precipitation flows easily from paved areas and with some delay from unpaved areas into many small canals and through these canals towards the downstream pump station. Here, high water levels can result in an unacceptable high groundwater table. This problem has grown over the past years as more area has been paved and storm events have become more extreme. Until recently in the Netherlands, the solution for this problem was to increase the pump capacity, but nowadays the Dutch Government's opinion and that of the local Water Boards about solving this problem is changing. Rather than shifting the problem to more downstream lying parts of the water system, the philosophy has become “first retain, then store, only then discharge” (Nationaal Bestuursakkoord Water, 2003. Dutch National Policy on Water Management for the 21st Century).