De kassen staan blank: Historische wortels van wateroverlast in Delfland
de Bont, C. (2003). De kassen staan blank: Historische wortels van wateroverlast in Delfland, in: Soens, T. et al. Tussen politiek, economie en ecologie: waterbeheer in het verleden. Jaarboek voor Ecologische Geschiedenis, 2001: pp. 25-38 In: Soens, T.; Thoen, E. (Ed.) (2003). Tussen politiek, economie en ecologie: waterbeheer in het verleden. Jaarboek voor Ecologische Geschiedenis, 2001. Academia Press: Gent. ISBN 90-382-0473-6. 107 pp., more In: Jaarboek voor Ecologische Geschiedenis. Academia Press: Gent, more |
| Keywords | Historical account
Management > Resource management > Water management
ANE, Netherlands [Marine Regions]
Marine/Coastal |
| Abstract | Although some forms of water management in the Netherlands date back as far as the Roman period, it was not until the eleventh century that a new form of reclamation activities gave rise to the development of a special technical skill in connection with a balanced set of juridical rules originating in the late Early Middle Ages on the one hand, and of a new institutionalised approach to water management on the other. In order to reclaim vast areas of mires and peat bogs for agricultural use in large parts of the Netherlands the reclaimers had to manage the water. Peat reclamation without water management is quite unthinkable. Partly because of these reclamation activities the whole water system started to change rather rapidly. From the thirteenth century onwards the so-called water boards (in Dutch: hoogheemraadschappen) were founded and water management became institutionalised. These new institutions took all kind of measures in order to reach an optimum in water management for the very dynamic water landscape of the Netherlands. Looking back, many of these time-bound measures appeared to be only short-term solutions. Furthermore, they brought about many of the present-day problems in Dutch water management. In this paper the historical intermingling between cause and result concerning water management in the Low Countries is discussed on the basis of a short history of water management in the Hoogheemraadschap of Delfland near The Hague. |
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