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About us

Why All-Risk?

Flood risk reduction is one of humankind’s major challenges, especially for the people who live close to the water. In the Netherlands, the Dutch Delta program tackles this challenge through several projects, for example, to protect the delta and give room for the river. However, the influence of climate change has urged the central government and the Regional Water Authorities to follow new safety standards and further reduce flooding probabilities.

Since 2017 new safety standards came legally into place following a risk-based approach. Under the umbrella of the Flood protection program (in Dutch named to as HWPB), the ambition is to offer basic protection for the population living behind the dike and prevent substantial economic damage. Therefore, the government will reinforce about 2/3s of the 3.500 kilometers of the primary flood defences over the next two decades.

Our shared ambition with the Flood protection program naturally led to the question: How can we support the reinforcement of flood defences at an increased pace and decreased cost while considering the implementation’s governance and legal aspects? This question initiated the five years’ research of the All-Risk program, starting from 2017 until the end of 2021.

As a team, we do not only investigate how measures such as the reinforcement of the flood defences can reduce flood risk. We also consider the benefits for the landscape and ecology along with an adequate legal, institutional, and societal context for the implementation.

The team

Partners

Collaborations

Who are we?

We are All-Risk. We are a group of 16 Ph.D. students, 4 Postdocs/Researchers, and our supervisors. We work at five different universities. We have backgrounds ranging from dike engineering to law. But we all share a passion for delivering new and better ways to reduce flood risk where we live, are coming from, or there are similar challenges. See below a photo of the team in one of the joint excursions and the dike view nearby one of our houses.

Top photos: All-Risk team in one of the joint excursions and the dike view nearby one of our houses. Bottom photo: Workshop at one of the regional water authorities at the end of February 2019.

We collaborate. We are partners of our users by working together, through user meetings every six months and the All-Risk User Days such as the one that took place in 2019. We collaborate within and beyond All-Risk by working on joint cases with related projects and by organizing or joining program meetings and fieldtrips to interesting locations for research and practice.

We communicate. We publish and attend conferences. We publish and attend conferences. We discuss our results with users, Regional Water Authorities, and the government program for the implementation of the new safety standards. We also exchange experiences with interested parties abroad.

As a research group, we are led by prof.dr.ir. Matthijs Kok (professor of Flood Risk at the section of Hydraulic Structures & Flood Risk of TUDelft) and ir. Richard Jorissen (former director at the Flood Protection Program).

We joined forces along with all partners and related projects to help the practical implementation of the new flood protection standards. We hope and expect that you find useful insights on this website for your work, and if there are opportunities to work together, please contact us!!

Program coordinators

Prof. dr. ir. Matthijs Kok

Matthijs.Kok@tudelft.nl

Ir. Richard Jorissen

R.E.Jorissen@tudelft.nl

With who are we working?

Partly funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific research, an important aspect of All-Risk is that we carry out the research within five different universities and work as partners with over 30 users.

Partners include the Ministry of Infrastructure & Water Management (Rijkswaterstaat), seven Regional Water Authorities or waterboards (Waterschap), the Dutch province of Groningen, three knowledge institutes, 13 companies among international consultancies, small and medium enterprises, and non-government organizations. We also strengthen international collaborations by working with universities in the USA, Japan, and Germany. Partners contribute with time and money by, for example facilitating data, supervision and by inviting researchers to work part-time at their office.

Below the list with all parties, which also reflects the wide range of potential users.

Main funding institute

All-Risk (2017-2019) is partly funded by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific research.

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Universities

The faculty of Science and Engineering contributes to the project theme B (Dynamics in hydraulic loads).

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The Geography Planning and Environment group contributes to the project E (Law, Governance and implementation).

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The department of Physical Geography leads project theme C (Subsoil heterogeneity). The Law Department leads the project theme E (Law, governance & implementation).

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The department of Coastal Systems & Engineering and Port Development contributes to the project theme B (Dynamics in hydraulic loads).

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The departments of Hydraulic Structures and Flood Risk, Geosciences and Engineering, and Urbanism contribute to project themes (A to D) to implement the new safety norms.

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The Water Systems and Global Change group contributes to project theme A (Risk framework). The Environmental and Policy group contributes to project theme E (Law, governance & implementation).

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The department of Water Engineering and Management contributes to project themes B (Dynamics in hydraulic loads) and D (Reliability of flood defences).

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Government organizations

This province contributes to project themes A (Risk framework) and E (Law, governance & implementation).

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This Regional Water Authority contributes to project theme A (Risk framework).

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This Regional Water Authority contributes to project theme E (Law, governance & implementation).

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This Water Regional Authority contributes to project themes C (Subsoil heterogeneity) and D (Reliability of flood defences).

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This Water Regional Authority contributes to project themes A (Risk framework) and E (Law, governance & implementation).

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This Water Regional Authority contributes to project themes C (Subsoil heterogeneity) and D (Reliability of flood defences).

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This Water Regional Authority contributes to project themes A (Risk framework) and D (Reliability of flood defences).

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This Water Regional Authority contributes to project themes A (Risk framework) and D (Reliability of flood defences).

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This Water Regional Authority contributes to project themes A (Risk framework) and E (Law, governance & implementation).

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The Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management contributes to all project themes as responsible for the implementation of the new risk standards through the Dutch Flood Protection program (in Dutch HWBP).

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Research Institutes

This foundation for applied research contributes to all project themes as responsible for the implementation of the new risk standards through the Dutch Flood Protection program (in Dutch HWBP).

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This institute for applied research in the field of water and subsurface contributes to project themes (A to D) to implement the new safety norms.

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The department of Estuarine & Delta systems contributes to the project theme B (Dynamics in hydraulic loads).

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Consultancies

International design and consultancy company contributing to project themes C (Subsoil heterogeneity) and D (Reliability of flood defences).

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International engineering and consultancy company contributing to project themes A (Risk framework) and D (Reliability of flood defences).

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Consultancy and Engineering Agency contributing to project themes C (Subsoil heterogeneity) and D (Reliability of flood defences).

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This world’s leading Geo-data specialist is contributing to project theme C (Subsoil heterogeneity).

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Engineering and Consulting company contributing to project theme D (Reliability of flood defences).

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Expert advisors in the field of water and safety contributing to the project theme B (Dynamics in hydraulic loads).

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A legal firm specialised in questions related to the landscape, nature, water, safety, and fabrics contributing to project theme E (Law, governance & implementation).

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Specialised in administrative and environmental law advising engineering firms, provinces, municipalities, and water regional authorities. The firm contributes to the project theme E (Law, governance & implementation).

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Technology for sustainable rainwater reuse solutions in contributing to project theme A (Risk framework).

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Interdisciplinary design studio working on the urban and landscape design of the flood defenses contributing to project theme A (Risk framework).

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Inventor and developer of a concrete embankment block for coastal protection and stronger levees at lower costs, who is contributing to project theme D (Reliability of flood defences).

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Non-government organization

Provincial association for nature conservation in Fryslân that provides access to marsh areas where dike experiments have been carried out with different grazing management techniques. The association contributes to project theme B (Dynamics in hydraulic loads).

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Natuurmonumenten owns and manages more than 100,000 hectares of the Netherlands including a large scale restoration project developing foreshore management measures. The association contributes to project theme B (Dynamics in hydraulic loads).

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International collaborators

The Water Resources and Environment group develops knowledge to the German flood risk management practice and contributes to the project themes A (Risk framework) and E (Law, governance & implementation)..

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The Tokyo Institute of Technology is working in comparable flood risk management approaches for similar problems. It contributes to project theme A (Risk framework).

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The Severe Storm Prediction, Education, & Evacuation from Disasters Center at Rice University (Houston, Texas) contributes to A (Risk framework).

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This university is actively working in solutions that increase the safety from flooding, without severely affecting the industry and the environment. It contributes to project theme A (Risk framework).

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The council funds the D5) project about the influence of berms and roughness elements on the overtopping discharge.

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The engineer Research and Development Center contributes to project theme D for improving flood defences.

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How do we take research into practice?

In the Netherlands, flood defences are one of the most efficient measures to reduce flood risks. Therefore, the ambition of the All-Risk program is to help with the practical challenges of the reinforcements of these measures. To that end, we not only work intensively with interested dike professionals (‘dijkwerkers’ in Dutch) but also support government initiatives.

Here, we highlight the main collaborations:

  • The Flood Protection Programme or HWBP. The central and the regional government work together with knowledge institutes and the business community to carry out about 70 dike reinforcement projects to be implemented better, faster and cheaper from 2019 to 2024. Some of these projects are locations for our research such as the Grebbedijk which is a combination of dike reinforcements as well as spatial planning measures.
  • POV Macrostabiliteit The “ProjectOverstijgende Verkenning Macrostability” is a research program focusing on the slope stability of dikes. It consists of improved computational methods and innovative pilots to improve for example monitoring. A large sheet pile test is also part of the program. Part of the outcome of the sheet pile test are analysed in All-Risk project D1.
  • POV Waddenzee Dijken (POV-W) The collaboration between All-Risk and the POV-W is shaped in different ways. For the project E (law and governance), different legal questions were answered regarding innovative flood defence solutions in Natura 2000 areas. Also, an interactive workshop has been organised by All-Risk and the POV in 2019 and the POV will provide one of the test cases for the legal framework that is currently in progress.
  • POV Voorlanden (POV Foreshores) Foreshores included in flood risk management strategies do not only lead to flood risk reduction, but to different legal and governance questions as well. In the collaboration between the POV Foreshores and All-Risk projects, the researchers tackled different legal questions of including foreshores in the assessment of flood defences. The collaboration led to a contribution to the legal chapter of  the guidebook Foreshores (Handreiking Voorlanden).

Below the growing list of the related projects that includes but is not limited to the above collaborations.

Related projects

The Flood Protection Program HWBP is an alliance of the Regional Water Authorities and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management.

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SoSeal project: Soil Sealing by Enhanced Aluminium and dissolved organic matter Leaching

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The Project-transcending Exploration consists of twelve studies into innovative dike concepts along the Wadden Sea. Possibilities to implement the necessary improvements to the Wadden Sea dikes are being examined faster and cheaper.

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The project builds upon the longstanding collaboration between the faculties within the Delft Infrastructure and Mobility Initiative and capitalises on the acquired experience with interdisciplinary design.

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Fostering urbanising deltas as sources of social, ecological & economic prosperity

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Project-transcending explorations for making dike reinforcement better, faster and cheaper that started within five water boards and is now scaled up as part of the Flood protection program.

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Last modified: 27/11/2020