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News · September 22, 2025
Designing resilience in the Dutch polders
With rapid climate change driving sea-level rise and intensifying flood risks, the low-lying polders of the western Netherlands face vulnerability. Along the Amsterdam-Rhine Canal, pumping stations face growing pressure to manage drainage, heightening the risk of waterlogging. To confront this challenge, De Stichtse Rijnlanden Water Board commissioned us, in collaboration with Nelen Schuurmans and Ambient, to initiate a study on the integration of three potential climate-resilient water buffers in peat meadow polders, referred to as the ‘Blue Battery’.
The Blue Battery
The Blue Battery as a concept is a smart buffer system for pumping stations that stores excess water regionally, preventing flooding and damage to ecology and infrastructure. By draining this water sustainably during off-peak hours, it eases pressure on the power grid and strengthens resilience to climate change.
‘What makes this project truly special is the ongoing collaboration with Nelen Schuurmans’ deep technical expertise, and Jos Rademakers’ ecological concept, which combined with our landscape design perspective, allows us to push the boundaries of what flood protection can be.’
– Janneke van Bergen, Senior Project Leader
Compact buffer (HDSR model)
Compact wet buffer with peat formation
The tiered buffer
Ecologically optimal buffer
The shallow buffer with agricultural preservation
Site visit to an existing buffer zone
From flood risk to ecological opportunity
Each site poses distinct spatial and hydrological conditions — ranging from topographic variation to drainage depth and storage capacity — that shape tailored strategies for flood resilience, from compact, elongated buffer zones to more flexible, decentralised systems. These interventions revive the traditional Dutch ditch network as permanent water bodies, providing us with rare opportunities for peatland regeneration, a vanishing landscape type in the Netherlands. Consequently, we firmly uphold our unique foundation of environmental resilience by proactively collaborating with an ecologist to integrate the required flood barriers with nutrient-rich, biodiverse habitats. This layered ecosystem includes reed beds along shallow edges, rib-shaped nesting islands for birds, water soldier vegetation in ditches, and swamp forests on higher ground. Thus, through our innovative approach, a technical challenge becomes a catalyst for restoring wet nature.
A rich variety of sub-biotopes develops within the buffer zone, tailored to nutrient-rich, fluctuating water levels, and as an asset to the peat meadow area
Toward a climate-resilient future
The Blue Battery ensures reliable long-term water storage to combat future flooding while offering a mosaic of habitats that enrich biodiversity and strengthen the resilience of the peat meadow landscape.
The next phase will involve a strategic exploration of a broader range of polder buffers for flood prevention in mid- and downstream areas, including potential relief for the Amsterdam-Rijnkanaal. This study could lead to an inspiring new generation of flood-protection buffers in combination with wetland development.
