Handling Sediments in Dutch
River Management:
An Analysis of the Planning
Stage of the Maaswerken Project
Michiel J. van der Meulen1, Marc Rijnveld1, Lasse
M. Gerrits1,2, Jan Joziasse1, Max W.I.M.
van Heijst3,4, Stephan H.L.L. Gruijters1
1TNO Built Environment
and Geosciences, PO Box 80015, 3508 TA Utrecht, Netherlands
2Erasmus University,
Faculty of Social Sciences, PO Box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, Netherlands
3Road and
Hydraulic Engineering Institute, PO Box 5044, 2600 GA Delft, Netherlands
4Currently at: Twynstra Gudde, PO Box 907, 3800
AX Amersfoort, Netherlands
Abstract
Background,
Aim and Scope: Faced with higher peak discharges in the foreseeable
future, the Dutch government has decided to increase the discharge capacities
of the Dutch Rhine and Meuse rivers. Instead of raising the dikes, river
widening measures are to be undertaken, in and along the riverbed. Such
measures include surface level lowering along the rivers, channel deepening,
the addition of high-discharge channels and the removal of hydraulic obstacles.
To cover or reduce the costs of river widening, a coupling with aggregates
(sand and/or gravel) extraction has been considered. Although the rationale of
this concept is basically sound, it has met with considerable resistance, especially
along the southernmost stretch of the Dutch Meuse River, in the Maaswerken
project area.
Main Features: The Dutch river
widening projects are quite unique in size and occurrence, and the number of
publicly documented case histories available for the planning of such works is
inevitably few. We review the planning and decision-making process for the
Maaswerken project, which is in a more advanced stage than that of the
corresponding project for the Rhine. Sediment handling and aggregates extraction
are focused on, which are key issues to this case.
Discussion: In the study area, there
is a conflict of interests between the extractive industry and the local
communities. The industry faces a policy of phasing out mineral extraction;
river widening presents the last significant prospects in the area. The general
public, however, has come to resent mineral extraction because of its
historical impacts. Aiming at a manageable process, the Maaswerken project
management kept most stakeholders in a basically reactive position: the general
public was kept informed and enabled to submit formal reactions to draft
planning decisions. Aggregate extraction plans and extraction volumes were only
discussed with the industry. Despite not being represented, the public influenced
this negotiation process by expressing dissatisfaction with interim outcomes
through the media and political channels. Plans had to be reconsidered, and
this closed process turned out to be only seemingly efficient.
Conclusions: The level of public
concern regarding the Maaswerken project suggests that the overall level of
stakeholder involvement may have been insufficient, even though it complied
with pertinent environmental and planning legislation. A participation deficit
seems to have mainly occurred when defining the project's preconditions: a
predefined, controversial role for the extractive industry was implicit in
self-financed river widening. As planning and decision making in large projects
such as the Maaswerken are prone to be affected by a negative public opinion,
it is recommended that social feasibility is assessed and addressed at the very
outset.
Keywords: Aggregates;
Dutch river management; Maaswerken river widening project; Meuse; Rhine;
sediments; stakeholder analysis; The Netherlands; water management
In: Journal
of Soils and Sediments, 6(3), 163-172, 2005 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1065/jss2006.06.165)