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On Tuesday August 4th, SLFPA visited the Delfland Water Board for a day of exchanging ideas and sharing experiences. Delfland was approached by Royal Haskoning in 2008 to take part in the project due to its expertise in this field and invited to contribute its knowledge in the field of water management. Delfland is responsible for keeping the dikes strong and stable in the area it covers, and has developed a sophisticated management system and an automated planning and maintenance programme. The focus of this first visit was primarily to discuss how information is applied in management tasks (such as the Dutch approach adopted for carrying out safety assessments, inspections and maintenance planning) and to explore the difference between the situation in New Orleans and the Netherlands. In Delft, Delfland demonstrated the existing information system and outlined anticipated future developments. The visitors were then taken on a tour of the flood defences in the area, including the Maeslantkering storm surge barrier.
On Wednesday August 5th, SLFPA visited research and consultancy firm HKV Lijn in Water. The day’s discussions mainly centred around the situation in New Orleans.

This project reflects the ability of the Dutch water sector to offer expertise in the field of information management and the management and maintenance of flood defences. This ‘product’ could also be used in areas other than Louisiana, especially in other regions of the US interested in flood defence management systems. Alongside the services that have already been provided and continue to be provided by the Dutch government, business sector and academic institutions, the project further underlines the success of the Dutch water sector in the US. It is therefore being supported financially by the EVD (Dutch agency for international business and cooperation) under the 2g@there programme targeted at the United States. A return visit by the Dutch experts to New Orleans is scheduled for the autumn.