How will the Netherlands cope with rising seas?has it risen at all?

Question

7 years ago I told people in the Netherlands that they were all gonna get their feet wet ,and they called me insane ,

Now 7 years later I was wandering if the sea had risen at all or if they think it is going to ,

How will they cope ?half the country is below sea level ,and they cant keep raising the dykes for ever

Any experts in Nederland have an opinion on this???

this question was in reference to Global warming and what could happen ,say over 50 years into the future if the Antarctic and glazier ice keeps melting.

Answer 1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming

Answer 2

The Dutch are the world's number one water engineers. If any nation can survive rising sea levels, it will undoubtedly be the Netherlands.

Some parts of the Netherlands are below sea level and always have been. The Dutch have reclaimed vast areas of land from the sea.

Dutch water engineers who moved to England from about the 17th century on, began the task of draining the Fens and other areas of East Anglia. In fact so many Dutch Puritans settled there that it became known as Little Holland.

I have every faith in the Dutch and their ability to deal with any possible rise in sea levels.

The word dike [dyke] is from the Dutch language. The Dutch are experts at containing water and dealing with it.

Where I live in London, we're likely to get serious flooding over the coming years. My house is on high ground, about 150 feet above sea level, but there are vast areas of London which will simply flood. The plan at the moment is to build a bigger Thames Barrier and hope that this holds back the sea floods.

Maybe we should get Dutch water engineers to come and take a look and see what they think.

One main problem for London is that much of the Tube network will probably flood if we do not do something now to stop this happening.

Answer 3

The Dutch have been dealing with (rising) water for ages as you can read in the first answer. Dunes, Delta works, dikes will keep the sea out. Coastal areas are being adressed as they have identified weak spots.

Getting water to the sea without the rivers spilling over the dikes is a more urgent problem. For quite some years now dikes are being hightened or fortified, but the solution is not just in getting bigger dikes, but also to give more room to water. Overflow areas are created, you can't contain melting snow, glaciers and heavy rainperiods inside the original river, but you need to create a controlled situation for overflows (the government programme for this is actually called "Room for the River").

Answer 4

The only difference between this phony new "global warming" claim and all the other claims that the alarmists have made for decades is that they have learned to move the timetable out several decades, say 50 years or so.

In fifty years when nothing significant has happened in the environment most of those making those claims will be gone, the damage to our economic system will have occurred and most of you will be suffering the effects of the impact your well meaning but totally misguided "we have to do something" actions have caused you. I predict you will have dry feet but far less freedom, a weaker economy and a much more socialistic system in America.


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Answer 5

global warming doesn't happen in just one year

and it also takes time for all the ice to melt

so it is unlikely that people will get their feet wet in just 7 years

it might happen after 20 years

Answer 6

Build higher dikes. Install outflow pumps to avoid stagnating water. Develop interlocking redundant sytems to protect different areas in case of levee failure.

Answer 7

I am not an expert but continuous vigilance maintaining their dykes is in my opinion the answer.

Answer 8

I wish they stop raising those dykes , their are to many as it it ..

Answer 9

I believe they are thinking about it all the time.

Answer 10

What is rising and what is sinking?