Ingwer de Boer believes battling floods is in the DNA of the Dutch population.
Residents of the Red River Valley can probably relate to that genetic make-up.
"It's in our genes, our DNA, to fight against the sea and the river," de Boer said following a bus tour Wednesday of the Grand Forks flood protection system.
The general director of the Netherlands Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management, de Boer said he saw some familiar protection methods as he and a Dutch delegation of water experts toured the Red River as part of the 2012 International Legislators Forum.
The forum brings together legislators from North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and Manitoba and welcomed the contingent from the Netherlands, where 50 percent of the country lies below sea level.
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The Dutch group is in the United States as part of an information-sharing agreement made in 2004 between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Rijkswaterstaat, which operates public works and water management in the Netherlands.
The visit to Grand Forks was a responding trip for the Dutch, who were visited in 1998 by a group of Red River area officials to examine Dutch policies in the aftermath of the flood of 1997.
A way of life
Dealing with floods is a way of life in the Netherlands, according to de Boer.
The North Sea flooded much of the western Netherlands in 1953 and killed an estimated 1,800 people.
That led to a 40-year plan that de Boer said cost about 20 billion euros to protect against the sea.
According to de Boer, western Netherlands is protected for up to a one-in-10,000-year flood and eastern Netherlands has one-in-1,000-year protection.
In the mid-1990s, the Dutch were hit with a pair of Rhine River Delta floods that caused a re-evaluation of flood protection.
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The government has taken such an active role in the issue that flood insurance is not offered in the country.
"Politically, it's a big issue," he said. "To most people, it's not a big issue because they rely on the government to protect them."
Giving river room
The river plan the Dutch have implemented is called "Room for the River," which in part, pulls populated areas back from the river and allows a wider flood plain.
De Boer noticed a similar practice along the Red River during the tour, when guide Kevin Dean noted that Third Street is the closest road to the river.
"First and Second Street have been given back to the river," de Boer said.
The "Room for the River" program will cost 2.3 billion euros, according to de Boer, and won't be completed until 2015.
In a show of unity, the Dutch Parliament passed the plan, which has 40 separate measures, unanimously.
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Reach Bieri at (701) 780-1118; (800) 477-6572, ext. 1118; or send email to cbieri@gfherald.com .
