Sufficient freshwater in adaptive delta

The Netherlands faces major challenges around climate change, such as rising sea levels and changing river discharges. This affects freshwater distribution and reduces the availability of freshwater. This causes water shortages in dry summers. The Dutch government's Delta Program works to ensure the availability of sufficient freshwater, also in the future.

Delta Decision Freshwater

The Delta Decision Freshwater, part of the Delta Program, must ensure that sufficient fresh water is available for essential applications such as drinking water and agriculture. Deltares contributes to the quantitative substantiation of future scenarios and the identification of promising solutions. Climate scenarios are combined with socio-economic developments to provide a comprehensive overview of future freshwater supplies.

Identify and solve bottlenecks

Deltares performs various analyses to identify bottlenecks in freshwater supply and design promising measures. The National Water Model and the Quick Scan tool are used to quantify and explore the effects of measures. In addition, Deltares has developed important tools such as delta scenarios, adaptation paths and nodal points, which have also been used for regional adaptation strategies of the Delta Program. These tools help outline long-term perspectives and determine measures for both the short and long term.

Adaptive delta management

In this way, Deltares is working on adaptive delta management. In it, different routes are outlined based on future scenarios. These routes show how the Netherlands can adapt to changing circumstances, such as climate change. They are regularly updated on the basis of the latest insights. This approach ensures that plans remain flexible and can be adapted to new climate scenarios.