Vlijmen-Den Bosch Climate Buffer
Additional peak water storage is urgently needed in the area between the towns of Den Bosch, Heusden, and Vlijmen. When peak discharges from the Aa and Dommel rivers coincide with high water in the Meuse, various neighbourhoods in Den Bosch are prone to flooding. This is expected to occur once every 75 to 100 years.
Results
According to the Den Bosch Flood Protection Environmental Impact Assessment Report, the most sustainable way to tackle these issues would be the construction of a so-called “green river”, raising the A59 motorway in order to allow the river to pass freely.
However, a green river is not foreseen in the plan drawn up by the city of Den Bosch in collaboration with a network of organisations: HoWaBo, Den Bosch Flood Protection Plan. This covers approx. 650 hectares of peak water storage, including 450 hectares designated as nature reserves / recreational areas. The essence of the HoWaBo plan is the development of a peak water storage area with a capacity of approx. 15 million m3. This is assumed to be sufficient for coping with occasional high water peaks in the Meuse.
The HoWaBo plan envisages a passage underneath the A59 motorway (2014/2015), allowing water, Nature and recreational visitors to pass underneath the motorway through a wide eco tunnel (defragmentation). An engineering structure connecting the peak water storage area to the Dommel river is currently under construction.
Even though this development structure does not foresee the “green river” concept, its realisation will be possible in the long run. The current solution (HoWaBo, comprising the Vlijmen Den Bosch climate buffer) is a continued growth model, as it were: open to upscaling at a later stage.
The Vlijmen-Den Bosch climate buffer is an integral component and a relevant building block of the HoWaBo flood protection plan.
Contact person
Marcel Vermeulen
Staatsbosbeheer
+31(0)6 52 51 18 19
m.vermeulen@staatsbosbeheer.nl