Creative solutions for safe and liveable delta regions
Good water management includes the provision of clean drinking water and protection from flooding. This can be quite a challenge, particularly in vulnerable delta regions. At the Delta Futures Lab, students, researchers, and parties from the field work together on solutions for sustainable, liveable and safe deltas. Martine Rutten, who is in charge of the Lab, explains why collaboration often produces the best ideas.
Formed in places where rivers meet the sea, delta regions are vulnerable to flooding. This creates problems that are especially apparent in densely populated delta regions, according to Martine Rutten, who is Associate Professor of Water Management. “Delta regions in Bangladesh, Vietnam and Indonesia are being flooded more and more frequently. This is partly due to climate change, which brings rising sea levels and more extreme rainfall, but groundwater extraction also causes problems, such as subsidence. In Jakarta, the ground is sinking faster than the sea level is rising.”
Water management in the Netherlands
Being a delta country, the Netherlands is faced with such dangers too. There is a significant difference, however. Rutten points out that we have an efficient water management system, unlike many other delta regions. “In contrast with many less developed countries, our drinking water, wastewater and rain water systems are managed at a central level, so local authorities and residents don't have to worry about them. In addition, we have the Delta Works to ensure that we are well protected against flooding. Many countries lack the knowledge and means to implement effective water resource management. Moreover, it is difficult to know where to start in a densely populated city with millions of inhabitants.”
Martine Rutten
Coordination of water systems
As a researcher, Rutten is particularly interested in the interaction between water and spatial design. “What solutions ensure sufficient water and water safety, while at the same time contributing towards a healthy and pleasant environment? And how can you implement such solutions with all the parties involved? The challenges are compounded by the fact that the various water systems are part of a larger system. You have to deal with human influence, and upstream and downstream areas. I try to understand this interplay and to improve it where possible.”
Research in Asia
Among other places, Rutten conducted research in Myanmar’s Irrawaddy Delta, where the Rangoon river meets the sea at the country’s capital of the same name. One of the problems there is subsidence, Rutten explains. “The city is developing at a rate of knots, and the need for drinking water is increasing commensurately. They mainly pump that drinking water from the ground. Using satellite data, I charted the subsidence together with a Master's student and a remote sensing researcher. We also spoke to inhabitants about problems they encountered, and discussed potential solutions with local authorities. You want to make use of local knowledge and enhance it where necessary.”
Delta Futures Lab
In 2018, back in the Netherlands, Martine Rutten and Jos Timmermans set up the Delta Futures Lab, a student think tank focusing on climate adaptation in delta regions. The purpose of the Lab is to ‘promote sustainability of urbanising deltas as sources of social, ecological and economic prosperity.’ Rutten: “The Lab is an open platform where we link scientific research to professional practice. This should lead to more interdisciplinary collaboration. At TU Delft, we carry out a great deal of research into sustainable delta development, but it has not always been possible to translate it into practice and link up with other disciplines. And conversely, we need input from the outside world to know what the current challenges are and to implement ideas.”
Interdisciplinary collaboration
Parties from various sectors have now joined the Delta Futures Lab, Rutten says. “We collaborate with policymakers, consultancies, the business community, water authorities and other knowledge institutions, such as the universities of Wageningen and Twente. From our base in Delft, we contribute expertise in the fields of civil engineering, architecture and public administration. We work in theme-based working groups, for example on cities and drought, the South-Western Delta, and major interventions in the North Sea. The groups are coordinated by both practice-based and science-based coaches.”
Research working groups
Various research projects have originated from the Delta Futures Lab in recent years. Rutten: “One group conducted research into drought in the eastern part of the Netherlands. Students from various fields of research collaborated closely with the Rijn en IJssel Water Authority, meeting up every three weeks to share their findings. By exchanging knowledge you assemble the pieces of the puzzle to arrive at solutions. One of the possibilities we looked at to combat drought is to use an old bypass of the Rhine. At TU Delft, we examined whether that would be technologically feasible. It would now be a logical progression for researchers from Wageningen to investigate the implications for the inhabitants and nature in the area.”
Room for creative ideas
Rutten see the Lab primarily as a place for creative ideas to flourish. “This could mean solutions that no-one has thought about before, that may seem unrealistic, or that have been dismissed in the past. By looking at a problem from various disciplines and approaches, solutions may arise that previously seemed impossible. A good example is the research into the North European Enclosure Dam, a two-part dam designed to close off the North Sea from the Atlantic Ocean to protect Europeans from rising sea levels. The plan may sound absurd, but so far, it does not seem impossible. It would mean a huge intervention that would require a lot more research and will hopefully never be necessary.”
Greater mutual understanding
Apart from a joint search for solutions, the Lab also seeks to foster mutual understanding, Rutten emphasises. “Even while collaborating, the parties involved often continue to live on their own little islands. A problem is split up and divided, and then people all go off and do their own things. But to arrive at the best solution, you have to understand each other. A techie needs to understand why the government imposes certain rules, and ecologists and engineers need to consider each other’s interests when it comes to nature and safety. You don't have to become an expert in someone else’s domain but you do have to know when certain things are or are not desirable, and what the room for manoeuvre is.”
Across the border
In the coming years, Rutten hopes to take the Delta Futures Lab across the border. “Collaboration with foreign partners has been on a back burner in the past year and a half because of Covid-19. Now that the restrictions have been relaxed somewhat, we are trying to revive our international collaborations. I think it would be very useful and informative to set up research groups and projects in other delta areas as well, for example in Vietnam and Myanmar, so that we can pool the knowledge gained in the Netherlands with that of local universities, inhabitants and policymakers. Interdisciplinary and international partnerships can open up a wealth of possibilities. It would be a shame to miss out on opportunities like that.”