In order to be better prepared for climate change, Dutch rivers are going to be substantially restructured. Rivers have lost space, the ground behind the dykes has sunk and it rains more often. The risk of flooding is therefore greater. The Directorate-General for Public Works and Water Management (Rijkswaterstaat) is taking drastic measures, but the long-term outcome of this is often unclear. The RiverCare research programme, with leadership provided by the University of Twente, is seizing upon this development. Technology foundation STW has awarded RiverCare an amount of 4.5 million euros.
Professor Suzanne Hulscher from the Department of Water Engineering and Management (WEM) of the Faculty of Engineering Technology (CTW) is responsible for the management of RiverCare. The universities of Utrecht, Nijmegen, Delft and Wageningen, as well as various research institutes, companies and government bodies, such as the Directorate-General for Public Works and Water Management, are participating in the programme. The knowledge will also be used as a typical Dutch export product for lowland rivers all over the world. The inconvenience caused by flooding rivers is now increasing worldwide. Dutch companies are often called upon to help solve and prevent this.
Greater control of rivers
"We measure exactly what the consequences are of particular measures on a river", relates Professor Hulscher. "At the moment, this does not happen often enough. Managing rivers costs a lot of money. We can tackle this management much more intelligently if we know what happens. This produces enormous cost savings."
RiverCare will, for example, be used for the Directorate-General for Public Works and Water Management's Space for the River projects. At more than thirty locations along the Rhine, IJssel, Waal, Lower Rhine and Lek, interventions such as dyke relocation, floodplain excavation, floodplain widening and water storage are taking place. Following the problems with high water in 1993 and 1995, the government launched a number of programmes to improve the protection from flooding for the more than four million Dutch people living in the river basins.
Hulscher: "We don't really know what happens subsequently with the bed, banks and floodplains. Thanks to RiverCare, we can gain control of the changes to the rivers during the coming ten to fifty years, both physically and biologically.”
Virtual River
Within the project, the University of Twente is working on a virtual river. Dr Mascha van der Voort MSc from the Department of Design, Production and Management (OPM) is developing a serious game in the Virtual Reality Lab. This virtual river shows what the consequences are of certain measures and gives insight into the future.
STW Perspectief
The RiverCare programme: towards self-sustaining multifunctional rivers is receiving the grant via Perspectief, STW's financing instrument. The technology foundation funds excellent scientific and technical research that offers the prospect of application. The characteristics of such programmes are the development of new technology by means of a multidisciplinary approach. The funding comes from the Ministries of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation (EL&I) and Education, Culture and Science (OCW). The programmes form part of the contribution of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) to the top sectors.
STW is investing in five new research programmes. The programme Symbionics: Co-adaptive Assistive Devices from UT professor Bart Koopman (Department of Biomedical Engineering) has also been approved.
