[Vision2020] New Orleans Flood Protection: Netherland's Dikes, etc.

[Tbertruss at aol.com]

All:

My previous post with information on Netherlands's Dikes, etc., had some bad 
links...

Info on the Netherlands flood protection system from a Dutch web site:

http://www.deltawerken.com/Deltaworks/23.html

Read at this web link below (accessible from the link above) about this 
massive storm surge barrier that is expected to be sufficient for 150-200 years.  
This is long term planning!

http://www.deltawerken.com/The-Oosterschelde-storm-surge-barrier/324.html

Here is more info below (from answers.com) on Netherlands's systems to 
protect low lying areas from flooding.  I quote from this web site below this link.  
While this system to protect from flooding is called one of the modern Seven 
Wonders of the World by the American Society of Civil Engineers, what do we 
call the protection systems in place around New Orleans?  

Consider that even with this mammoth commitment of time and money in the 
Netherlands for flood protection, the power of the sea to reclaim land is 
considered by some to be too powerful a force to be worth the ongoing struggle to 
maintain this protection system.  Relocation of populations away from flood prone 
areas is still debated.  

If New Orleans is going to be rebuilt, this should only be considered if a 
massive flood protection system is part of the process, a commitment of time and 
money that the Federal and State governments may not have the resources or 
the suitable political/economic ideology (recent calls for funding to improve 
the flood protection systems around New Orleans were met with a lame response by 
our Federal government) to complete, even assuming such a system is 
technically possible.

http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery;jsessionid=469fowg596rw1?method=4&
dsid=2222&dekey=Delta+Works&gwp=8&curtab=2222_1&sbid=lc05a&linktext=Delta%20Plan

The Oosterscheldekering is sometimes referred to as the eighth Wonder of the 
World, and has been declared one of the modern Seven Wonders of the World by 
the American Society of Civil Engineers.

However, there is an ongoing fundamental discussion about the basics of the 
Delta Works: the mainland is subsiding and due to global warming and climate 
changes, sea levels are rising. Eventually the dikes will have to be made higher 
and wider, causing even more local subsidence. This is a long term uphill 
battle against the sea that cannot be won. Some people argue that relocation of 
population centres and giving up land to the sea would be a longer lasting 
solution than to 'fight the sea'.

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Vision2020 Post by Ted Moffett

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