Inundatiekanaal

English translation

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Description

Inundation Canal.

NEW HOLLANDIC WATERLINE

Introduction

INUNDATION CANAL as an essential component of an extra water intake for possible inundations, whereby use would be made of the long-established Kromme Rijn. The approximately 350-metre-long Inundation Canal from the Neder-Rijn to the intake sluice / inundation culvert east of Wijk bij Duurstede was dug shortly after 1870 to enable the area south and southeast of Utrecht to be flooded. Thereby these works and simultaneously constructed sluices in the Kromme Rijn could be opened, after which the admitted water could flow via the river, dammed since the Middle Ages and meandering, towards the northwest. Behind the bank of the Lek the Inundation Canal was first laid out for this purpose, but it remained dammed for several years. When all works were sufficiently completed, the dam was then removed and a 'controllable or closable water supply' was created. The freed material was presumably used for the relocation and reinforcement of the Rijn dyke; in this area remaining outside the winter dyke of the Lek no defensive works were realized or constructed. The canal and canal banks are still highly recognizable and intact, although the canal bank on the southwest side has been modified for safety reasons and in the context of a harbour function. The Inundation Canal nowadays serves primarily as a (permanent) mooring place and as a haven for commercial vessels. To this end, part of the canal banks – in particular on the southwest side – has been adapted and provided with reinforced quays or piers.

Description

INUNDATION CANAL, extending in a northwest direction from the Neder-Rijn east of Wijk bij Duurstede to the Inundation Sluice / Inundation Culvert in the Rijn dyke. The canal is approximately 350 m long and 30 m wide and since its excavation and opening – shortly after 1870 – it formed one of the intakes for inundations in the area south and east of Utrecht. For a significant part the canal banks are reinforced with natural stone blocks.

Valuation

The INUNDATION CANAL from the Neder-Rijn to the Inundation Sluice / Inundation Culvert east of Wijk bij Duurstede is of general importance because of:

* Cultural-historical values as part of the New Hollandic Waterline as this was designed by C.R.T. Kraijenhoff and in its initial implementation from 1815 by him, Jan Blanken and Major Engineer Willem Offerhaus was realized and thereafter by others over more than 125 years was strengthened and improved.

* Architectural-historical values, in particular as an expression of military-strategic building construction, which is based on: a. the system of inundation and access defence (19th century).

This concerns a component from around 1870 which is an example of an arrangement of historical hydraulic engineering related to military-strategic building construction and which served as a water intake.

* Ensemble value and situational values as part of the New Hollandic Waterline. Also because of the functional and physical coherence with the other components of the complex and in particular with the adjoining Inundation Sluice / Inundation Culvert.

* The component is relatively rare because hardly any open inundation canals have been dug in the banks of the major rivers and because it is a still largely complete and readily recognizable example of this type which is representative (characteristic) of this kind of water works.