Managing drought effects on levees in England and The Netherlands

Abstract

Until quite recently, drought-related risks to levees received relatively little attention in The Netherlands and England, despite the fact that hot and dry summer periods became more common since about 1989, with 2003 producing one of the hottest, driest and sunniest summers measured so far. At the end of that 2003 summer, a dried-out peat levee near the Dutch town of Wilnis suddenly gave way. Especially in the first years that followed, drought effects received more attention in management practices, and a significant amount of research on drought and levees was initiated. Fifteen years later, when attention for drought effects had somewhat declined, another drought struck. This 2018 drought was even more severe than the 2003 one. Probably as a result of the improved levee management practices, no (near-)failures occurred during the 2018 drought. Yet there were several cases of deep cracks and significant damage to grass revetments. In this paper, the 2018 drought effects and drought management practices are described for Dutch and English levees, and some common lessons are drawn.