Protection against flooding: Cost-benefit analysis for Space for the River, Part 1

The method has been applied to 22 dike rings along the rivers. An important outcome is that the current safety norms in the Act on the Water defences turn out to be not optimal from an economic point of view. For sixteen dike rings, the optimal safety level is higher than their present legal norm, for nine of them even more than twice. This is especially true for the two dike rings in the province of Utrecht: Kromme Rijn and Gelderse Vallei. On the other hand, the dike ring of Biesbosch (Noordwaard) should no longer be a well-protected dike ring. The outcomes support a 'robust' investment strategy that takes future changes fully into account.

This publication is in Dutch.