Water safety
In our fight against water, the contiguous links of water systems, water barriers and structures are crucial to guaranteeing a water-safe living environment in a large part of the Netherlands. SOCOTEC contributes to this every day with research and advice.
Collaboration with water boards
For decades already, SOCOTEC has been carrying out geotechnical surveys to chart the soil structure and strength of water barriers throughout the Netherlands. Thanks to this we have good contacts with all the water boards in the Netherlands. SOCOTEC has entered into framework agreements with many water boards to carry out soil investigations and laboratory research.
Over 10 years ago, on the basis of monitoring a start was made on placing measurement networks of telemetric systems in order to actively measure the current head and water pressure in water barriers for various water boards. From then on, traffic load tests were carried out for both the Hollands Noorderkwartier and the Rijnland water boards to discover more about the load transfer from traffic on paved and unpaved flood defences. STOWA (Dutch Foundation for Applied Water Research) incorporated the results of these tests in the national guideline (LTVRW, 2015).
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More than just soil investigations!
Gathering specific knowledge about water barriers is the first step to properly assessing them. In the coming years, SOCOTEC will use its know-how and experience to develop new surveying techniques so that we can set ourselves apart by also giving advice. For this it is essential to cooperate with partners (water boards, engineering firms and contractors). Being able to give advice as an extension of the surveys makes SOCOTEC highly versatile for specific issues, also in the area of water safety.
Custom advice
SOCOTEC’s Water Safety team is currently growing, which means that we are able to offer an increasing number of services. We can help you with the following:
- (Re)testing sections of dikes
- Assessment of the water safety for Water Act permits
- Project management/Site engineering
- Analysis of and recommendations on the basis of the results of soil investigations, laboratory research and monitoring
- A thinktank to develop (in-situ) tests for flood defences
