World learns from Dutch to keep head above water

Dubai’s Palm Island, New Orleans’ upgraded dykes and Australia’s water recycling plants all have one thing in common: they benefited from Dutch know-how gained in the country’s age-old quest for dry feet.

“The Netherlands has always battled against this natural enemy – water,” said Hanneke Heeres of the Union of District Water Boards, which after 900 years existence is The Netherlands’ oldest government body.

“And with global warming and rising sea levels the world is more and more interested in Dutch expertise,” he remarked. Currently, Dutch companies are focusing efforts on projects on delta areas in five countries: Mozambique, Egypt, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Vietnam.

An abiding image of The Netherlands is the boy from a famous children’s tale who plugs a hole in a dyke with his finger to save his country from inundation – and with reason: the country’s lowest point is 6.74 metres below sea level.

In all, 26 per cent of the country is below sea level.

“Already 10 centuries ago, the Dutch were making sand piles on which to build their homes, out of reach of the water,” Bert Groothuizen of Van Oord dredging company said.

“As technology advanced, they designed machines like dredging boats,” now being exported around the world along with Dutch water engineers.

Today, the country has a global reputation in “delta-technology” - claiming some 40 percent of the world’s turnover in the open market. This excludes states who protect domestic makers of flood-barriers, dykes and bridges with anti-competition measures.

Out of a population of 16.5 million, the Netherlands also boasts some 2,000 companies in the field of water, employing about 80,000 people.

“As early as the seventh century, Dutch specialists were creating canals and dikes near the Elbe” River in what is modern-day Germany, said Christine Boomsma, spokeswoman for Netherlands Water Partnership (NWP), an information network of companies, government, knowledge institutes and NGOs.

Dutch savvy in the field has gone well beyond Europe and already been put to use in Africa, Asia and the Americas.