2002-10-30 - 12:57 p.m.

Original Date: October 15, 2002

I've said this before (or at least meant too), "the Dutch have a wonderful rail system." Today Cricket and I took the train to Middleburg and from there ran (via the bus) to the Delta Expo. The Californians (like me) aren't the only people to design a huge govt. operated water project. In the 1950's following a flood from the ocean much of the southern Netherlands was submerged and over 600 people lost their lives as the levees gave way. The people responded by designing a project that blocked off several of the country's rivers. It is important to note that for centuries European waterways were already altered and due to erosion and global warming much of the costal land in the Netherlands had already been washed away.

It is fair to say that the Dutch Delta Project is on scale comparable to California's State Water Project. However the focus of the Dutch project seems to be based on saving lives and property, while in California the focus is on simply providing water to arid environments. In other words the operational objectives are different.

What was clear in the Delta Expo (which is the museum for the Delta Project) is that over the years a host of environmental problems associated with the project have caused a redesign of the project. Interestingly, the same has happened in California.

This is how and why I have a job.

I know next to nothing about how to really operate my state's massive water project, for I am much more the environmental engineer, who's job it is to make sure that both the original goal of my project also addresses current issues and problems in the here and now. I do love my job. I just wish I could have met my opposite number here in the Netherlands. What is the Dutch Environmental Engineer like?

-=-

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