Gertjan Zwolsman, policy adviser and researcher at Dunea, a drinking water company that supplies water to 1.3 million people around The Hague, and his colleagues are looking for ways to pump and treat the brackish water beneath the Dutch coastal dunes. doing. This process is energy intensive. But so does the transportation of river water to distant cities, says Dunea researcher Franca Kramer.
“Nothing is natural in Holland,” said Dr. Zwolsmann with a laugh.
So far, the country’s drought adaptation has not been as extensive as large seawalls and other flood control projects. But if the planet gets hotter — projected to be more than 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius) warmer than pre-industrial times in the coming decades — even if nations meet their climate pledges — then , the Dutch leader may become necessary. Consider bolder and potentially riskier steps.
One concerns the fate of Europe’s largest port, Rotterdam. Today, the city has an open channel to the North Sea, allowing easy access for cargo ships. However, sea water also flows into the channel, so the Dutch government has to pump a large amount of fresh water into the river to push it back.
As sea levels rise, “more and more water will be needed to keep the ocean out,” says Nico Wanders, a water expert at Utrecht University. At some point, the government may want to close the port of Rotterdam with a lock, as it did with the port of Amsterdam, he said. This impedes ship traffic, but frees up water for other purposes. (This does not completely solve the problem. During this summer’s drought, the Dutch government limited number of times A lock near Amsterdam could be opened daily to limit the intrusion of salt water.)
Others have suggested even more drastic solutions. huge new seawall It separates most of the Dutch coast. Not cheap. But Stefan Nieuwenhuis, a senior adviser to the Dutch water ministry, said the trade-off, which could cost more, was to keep adapting and re-adapting the water infrastructure to increasingly harsh conditions. rice field.
“Or move on,” he said – to withdraw from the damp shoulders of Europe, which the Dutch, through ingenuity and force of will, have transformed into one of the most prosperous societies in the world. That’s not our plan.”