Living Below Mean Sea Level

The Netherlands is great for a mechanical engineer and environmental scientist like Tom and I. There are water projects all over the place and living below sea level is a surprise.  We first realized that we were below mean sea level (below mls) when driving on the A58 here in Zeeland. As we passed under a canal there was a sailboat sailing over us!

Then in Oegstgeester, our elevation below msl was confirmed. We saw a cow grazing next to a sailboat. The sailboat at sea level and the cow and pasture below msl. These low-lying areas enclosed by dikes that are formed from reclaimed lands.

Cow grazings next to a sailboat in a Polder in Oegstgeester

 In my opinion, the windmill is the most romantic water pump every built. Not only is it beautiful it is elegant in construction. Windmills use scoops on water wheels and Archimedes screws to move the water from the well like shaft into the canal and onward to the sea. The canvas sails point into the wind and supplies the pumping power.  The entire top of the mill can be moved around on wooden wheels to point into the shifting wind.  Even though they say that there are 1150 working windmill in Holland (http://www.windmillworld.com/europe/netherlands.htm) and their presence in the landscape is a constant reminder that we are living below sea level.

Windmill in Leiden

Here is a YouTube video of a windmill at work.  200 Year Old Dutch Windmill in Operation

Don’t you love the sound of the wind in the sails?

We visited the Neeltje Jans. No I can't pronounce the words either. Nor can I say Oegstgeester. I just don’t think we can put “ltje” together in English... sigh. As an aside, there is a town nearby called Vlissengen. Yep, also can't say it. But there was a similar town in Queens, New York which used to be called Vlissengen back when New York was New Amsterdam. Now is is called Flushing. The British I guess couldn't say it either. Flusing is anglicized but sounds like Vlissengen.

Back to water and great hydro projects. The Neeltje Jans are part of the 13 dams of the Delta Works/Zuiderzee project. This project was declared to be on of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World by the American Society of Civil Engineers along with projects like the Channel Tunnel and our very own Golden Gate Bridge. We visited the dams between Schouwen-Dulveland and Noord-Beveland both islands to the north of us. These barriers were initiated after the 1953 floods where the North Sea storm surges raised sea level up to 18.4 feet. Yikes!

Public Domain photo of 1953 Flood from Wikiepedia View from a U.S. Army helicopter
of Oude-Tonge on the island of Goeree-Overflakkee Source: http://www.archives.gov/ NARA

Neeltje Jans at Schouwen-Dulveland

The giant gates were open during our visit and the elevation of the sea was the same on the day of our visit. During storms the gates can be lowered by the giant rams to protect the low lands from flooding.