For hundreds of years the Dutch have been enlarging their country…by extending their lands into the ocean. What they do is to build seawalls (dikes), and enclose an area, which they then pump out and dry. This new land (polderland) is eventually flushed of salt, and becomes pastures, fields, etc. Is this still going on? I read in an old book onece. that the Dutch planned to connect the Frisian Islands with a netwrk of dikes…this woul then form the largest polder in the world.
This has got to be expensive…is this kind of land extension worth it?
And, if the seas are really rising, is the Netherlands in for big trouble in the future?
From what I can tell, even though there’s some small scale reclamation projects going on, the major dike-building and land reclamation projects have been stopped for environmental reasons.
Yes, we’re still making new land. Not near the Frisian islands (the Waddenzee is a heavily protected nature reserve) but we’re extending the Rotterdam harbour into the sea, in the Maasvlakte.
I’m curious as to whether they have stopped constructing the Ijsselmeer polders. I’m under the impression that the Markerwaard polder has been finished and that they have not proceeded with any further polderage in that area. But I’d welcome some factual information about what’s been done, what’s being done, and what’s planned with regard to the Ijsselmeer.
Polycarp, dykes have been built around the Markerwaard, as a start to polder it in, but the area between the dykes is still open water. This satelitephoto of the IJsselmeer from 2000 shows the current situation.
In the eighties, the Dutch Parliament decided that they would, sooner or later, make the Markerwaard dry land. But each of the several plans to do so met with resistance, either from experts who said the costs were calculated way too low, or by the environmentalist-lobby. The situation hasn’t really changed since. Currently, the issue isn’t high on the political agenda.
Neither is any further polderage in the IJsselmeer.
Quite interesting is the polderage of the North-East Polder. Few people know the population of the North-east Polder was a eugenetic experiment. Only “decent” hardworking youngsters from spotless Dutch backgrounds were admitted to populate the newly designed towns and villages. That makes the North-East polder the opposite of Australia. 
Funnily enough, the North-Eastpolder characterizes itself by not ever, ever being in the Dutch news, with *anything. * Nothing ever happens there. It’s uncanny. 
Interesting.
That explains why my Zeeland and Gelderland ancestors came to the US. They never would have been picked to go to the Noord-Oost Polder.
In the 1980’s a committee calculated that the cost of poldering the Markerwaard would be 30.000 guilders per hectare (about 125.000 dollars) At a cost of of 50.000,- per hectare farmingland at the time, that seemed a good investment. Later experts claimed the calculations were too low.
Yep. Bangladesh and Holland are two examples of densely populated area’s where the rising of the sea is a matter of considerate concern. Actually, 25% of Holland lies below sea-level already. If it wasn’t constantly pumped dry, and if the dykes broke or a particularly raging storm broke a hole in the dunes, (as it did the last time in Zeeland in 1953) half of the Netherlands would be under 1 to 6 metres of water. The danger nowaday comes from not only from the sea, but also from our two major rivers Maas and Rijn. In winter, the watertable in the river also lies higher then the surrounding land. When the riverdykes break, the river empties itself in the densely populated towns behind the dykes. In 1995, tens of thousands of Dutch people were evacuated when the watertable in the rivers was threatingly high and the watership could no longer guarantee safety. The dykes held, fortunately.
What can I say? Us cloggies are used to it. 
That’s why, with the changing climate, Dutch Government is currently trying to broaden the streambeds of the main rivers. Part of my work is conected with those efforts.
Good for them! They probably would have died from boredom and a clay-overdose.
I also understand that the bottom of the Borth Sea was once inhabited (sea levels were as much as 100 ft. lower during the last Ice Age). Is anything interesting found on the bottom of these polders, once they become dry land?
So you’re saying there’s a huge independent planned community of genetically-selected and bred aryans that has been mysteriously silent and isolated for many years?
Well, if movies have taught me anything, it’s that we have nothing to worry about, and we should ignore the rantings of that single tourist, and his tales of a narrow escape with ‘proof’ of a ‘master plan’.
Check out my description of the Ketelhaven Nautical Museum in this thread. Hundreds of shipwrecks and traces of their cargo are found on the bottoms of new polders.
The North Sea is another matter. Yes, it was dry land (icey tundra) in the last big ice-age, but any remains of that time have been swept away by the sea-currents. Anyway, the Dutch haven’t done much poldering in the North Sea itself. Except for the Maasvlakte, and even that is more delta then actual sea-bottom. The polders were made from lakes and shallow inland seas, or shallow seas that bordered on the mainland.
The Waddensea, for instance, still is a big mudflat that floods with 2-3 metres of sea-water twice a day. When it falls dry, there are guided tours that allow you to walk in about three hours from the coast to the islands. The walk is eerily beautiful. Think hundreds of square miles of vast sandy wet beach, with creeks, seals, mudcritters and the light and reflections of clouds on the wet sand and open water. The guide is essential; if you aren’t back on the shore when the tide comes up again, you’ll drown.
[QUOTE=Maastricht
Quite interesting is the polderage of the North-East Polder. Few people know the population of the North-east Polder was a eugenetic experiment. Only “decent” hardworking youngsters from spotless Dutch backgrounds were admitted to populate the newly designed towns and villages. That makes the North-East polder the opposite of Australia.
Funnily enough, the North-Eastpolder characterizes itself by not ever, ever being in the Dutch news, with *anything. * Nothing ever happens there. It’s uncanny. :D[/QUOTE]
Hmm. Where was Pieter van den Hooganband from?
Well… actually, yes. Ever since 1943, when the polder was finished.
Oh, they’re MUCH more subtle then that. Emmeloord is depicted as the most boring place in the Netherlands. Nobody WANTS to go there. Now that you’ve mentioned it, it IS kind of scary. :eek:
Ah, Dutch Triple Gold Olympic medal winner Pieter van den Hoogenband. I don’t know. He probably comes from a long genetic line of Cloggies who did NOT drown when the high tide was in
:smack: My ancestors may have stayed afloat, but they must have been terrible with a pocket calculator. Make that 12,500 dollars per hectare, please.
An economic question: when these poldering projects are completed, who owns the resulting land? Obviously no one had title when it was submerged. Does the resulting polderland belong to whoever paid to have it cleared? Does the government finance the poldering or is it run by private concerns? Is there an auction or is it parcelled out?
Do they still use windmills to pump the water out of the polder?
Usually lakes and sea were/are owned by the (local) government. I suspect (I’m not quite sure) that poldering them has been paid for by conglomerates of government and private investors. At least that was the case with the Markerwaard.
I suppose the new land is then leased to farmers, and sold to urban developers, and thus pays back for itself.
Many of the waterworks were not only made for profit, though. Important other reasons for doing it are to be safe from the water (the raging inland seas could threaten the nearby villages considerably in gales), and huge employment projects in times of massive unemployment. Even in the 17’the century.
Or course! Why, the this very computer is windmill powered. My little mill is merrily turning just outside my window. 
No. In the 17’the century, all polders (at the time the polders were relatively small, made from inland lakes in North Holland) were indeed pumped dry with windmills. Must have been an impressive sight, all those mills in a row. There were even regulations for mills so they wouldn’t “steal” each others wind.
With the inventon of the steammachine, most pumps switched to steam, powered by coals or, later, diesel.
Only in the last decade has windpower become anything more then a tourist attraction. Ironically, the biggest objection of the public to the modern big white windmills is that they pollute the now mill-free Dutch horizon. :rolleyes:
But even those big mills are used to generate electricity, not to power pumping installations.
Thanks, Maastricht! This thread is really fascinating, due to your detailed local knowledge. I tip my old fedora to you.