Markermeer dikes

The national government and water authorities in the Netherlands are cooperating intensively in the Flood Protection Programme to get the country’s water defences back into good shape. The new Design Tools were used to develop methods to ensure that primary water defences satisfy new legal safety requirements introduced on 1 January 2017.

This new standardisation had already been applied in 2016 to strengthen the Markermeer dikes. Large sections of the Markermeer dikes between Hoorn and Amsterdam do not meet safety requirements. Together with partners and local residents, a tailor-made solution was sought in which there was input from local residents as well as consideration of such matters as cultural history and flora and fauna. This collaboration yielded numerous innovations, including a Dikes on Peat method and the Bank Dike concept.