B o o k r e v i e w 
Foreword
During the last decade average people and to a certain degree even water professionals have been surprised both in the Netherlands and Hungary by floods or near floods. This raised the issue whether the current water policy is sufficiently equipped to cope with floods in these two, low lying countries in the future. Reconsiderations have been started on the old and many times tested methods of flood control and a kind of paradigm shift took place in both countries.
In the Netherlands the new approach is called “Space for the Rivers” and as the name suggests includes backward dike relocation, removing hydraulic obstacles from the floodway, lowering of groynes and many other measures. In Hungary where the Tisza river is in focus the “Update of the Vásárhelyi Plan” is set to start to solve flood control issues through an integrated way together with a rural development programme in the eastern part of the country. In both countries public involvement is considered an important part of these processes recognizing that the success of these immense endeavours depends on the stakeholders participation.
To change ideas and experiences professionals of the two countries attended a workshop in Szolnok, Hungary 2-4 October 2003, titled “Flood management challenges in the 21st century” organized by the Middle Tisza Valley District Water Authority within the framework of the traditional Dutch-Hungarian cooperation on water management. The present volume contains the papers of this event in the two official languages English and Hungarian. Financial support from RIZA, Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management which made the publication possible is highly appreciated.
Certain contributions have been reconstructed from the tape recorded during the presentations, these obviously reflect the characteristics of live speech, while some others have been submitted in similar free speech style. Only the third group of papers shows the format of a traditional conference. I feel, however, that this mixture of styles does not detract from the professional value of the papers. Figures and pictures were mainly taken from the Power Point presentation of the speakers.
Regarding the terms used by the two groups of participants (and then translated into English or Hungarian) certain differences can be observed. For describing flood protection structures Dutch professionals prefer to use dike or dyke, while Hungarian colleagues usually say levee or sometimes embankment. More interesting is the perception of the area between and beyond the dikes / levees. For Dutch flood plain is what is found between, saying that once an area has been protected by dikes it is no more flood plain. Hungarians claim that the area, which could be inundated in the (theoretical) absence of levee is the flood plain, and the area between levees is called foreshore.
The Hungarian translation of Dutch-English flood plain is therefore “hullámtér” (space of waves), and in the Hungarian-English papers flood plain means the low-lying area below flood level beyond the levees (see the figure in the paper of Mr. Reich).
What does a flood mean in the Netherlands? It is when the dike breaks or it is overtopped and the protected area becomes unprotected and flooded. It is a disaster. For a Hungarian flood is when the flood alert (level i, ii, or iii) is announced, that is a flood wave is coming. For Dutch it is, in the worst case, a near flood.
Whether flood or near flood, levee or dike, I believe the workshop and its documented outcome, i.e. the present volume and the CD-ROM (containing also two interesting videos as courtesy of Mr. Keijts and Mr. Váradi) are all beneficial and useful instruments for avoiding real floods in any of our countries.
Szolnok-Budapest, November 2003József Gayer
editor
Flood management challenges
in the 21st century
Proceedings
2003
Contents
Foreword
Flood management challenges in the 21st century
Keynote lectures
Flood management challenges in the 21st century
A different approach to water
Ir L.H. Keijts
Challenges of water resources management in the 21st century, with special regard to the new flood-control strategy of Hungary, the “Update of the Vásárhelyi Plan”
Dr. József Váradi
Characterisation of the floods of the recent past
Extreme floods, problems and concept of solutions
Adriënne van der SarCharacterisation of the floods on the turn of the millennium, problems to be resolved, possible solutions in the Tisza valley
Dr. Lajos Szlávik
Preparation of extreme floods and experiences of those in the Middle-Tisza valley
Dr. István Nagy.
Topic i Scientific foundation of flood management policy change, research and results
Development of the design discharges policy since last half century
Albert de Haas
ARES software package for decision support on rainfall-runoff and flood modelling
Dr. László Koncsos and Prof. László Somlyódy
Topic ii Land use planning and regional development in flood
management planning
Hydraulic optimization Rhine-river near the city of Lent
E.N. Boere
Relations of flood control and rural development along river Tisza
Annamária Göncz
Topic iii Public awareness, public participation
Public awareness and communication on Space for rivers
Annemiek Demon
Knowledge of the inhabitants about the Tisza floods of the past years and about the Update of the Vásárhelyi Plan
Zoltán Ferencz
Topic iv Experiences in operation of flood emergency reservoirs and reactivated floodplains (Space for Rivers)
Increasing the discharge capacity: some experiences along the Rhine branches in the Netherlands
Jos van Alphen
Operational experiences of flood-control reservoirs and reactivated flood plains
Zoltán Galbáts
Topic v Technical planning of floodplain reactivation
Emergency Flood Storage Areas
Robert Slomp
Feasibility study for phase i of the project: raising the conveying capacity of the Tisza flood bed and retention storage (flood plain revitalisation by controlled diversion) including a land use and development program for improving living conditions (Update of the Vásárhelyi Plan, Phase I/a)
Dr. István Kertai
Topic vi Social and economical aspects and prerequisites of
the operation of the system of reactivated floodplains
The integration of economic arguments in flood control policy and decision-making in the Netherlands
Roy Brouwer
Social, Legal, Administrative and Economic Aspects of Operating a Reservoir System
Gyula Reich
Topic vii Environmental impact assessment
Dike relocation Nijmegen: experiences with Environmental Impact Assessment
J. Tielen and J.S.L.J. van Alphen
Update of the Vásárhelyi Plan: Environmental Impact Assessments
Emőke Magyar and Tibor László
Topic viii Improvement of the flood conveyance capacity
of the major bed (floodway)
About the Box of Building Blocks:
A tool to facilitate the process of accommodating increased discharge in the Netherlands
Ralph Schielen
Improvement of the flow carrying capacity of the flood-channel
Dr. Sándor Kovács
Conclusions, recommendations |