Water management and polders

Thanks to the history of the Netherlands, the Dutch are experts in water management and polders. Collective water management has played a role in the Netherlands since the 11th century. Our history contains countless stories about the construction of dikes, windmills, pumping stations, discharge sluices and shiplocks, and about the water authorities. The fear of enormous flooding due to storm surges was averted in the 20th century with the implementation of the Southern Delta Plan. The challenge for the 21st century is to control the amounts of water that we will have to deal with as a result of urbanisation and climate change. We are dealing with soil subsidence in coastal and delta areas, rising sea levels and large amounts of rainwater causing rivers to swell and flooding to threaten.

Dutch expertise in the field of water management and polders is used all over the world. The Cornelis Lely Centre, part of Batavialand, collects information about this that is expressed in the collection of the archive, the library, information on the website and exhibitions in the museum.

POLDERS IN THE WORLD

The Netherlands is famous for its polders. The creation of polder Flevoland (1,000 km²), land reclaimed from the sea, is a story that is known worldwide and with which the Province of Flevoland attracts many visitors. However, there are also polders in many other countries. This concerns more than hundred countries, spread across all continents. These polders are usually located along the rivers and in coastal and deltaic areas. Three types of polders can be distinguished: 1) reclaimed low-lying land; 2) lands gained on the sea; 3) drained lakes.

In addition to the Netherlands, Bangladesh, China, Germany, Japan, the United States and South Korea are countries with many polders. The table below shows the countries with polders and the total surface area where polders have been found.

Click here for descriptions of polders per country: https://www.batavialand.nl/en/cornelis-lelycentrum/water-management-polders.

Information about the polders in the world is collected within the Cornelis Lely Centre. For more information, please contact poldersintheworld@batavialand.nl