It is proposed to build a sea wall 25 kilometers from the coast. “From Den Helder to Westcapelle, on Walcheren.” Almost the entire Dutch coast. “The water there is twenty meters deep and you can build a dam there. This is not an ordinary dam, but a very high sea dam,” says Putin. The dam should be 700 meters wide and 19 meters high. “This dam can stop future storms.”
Basins, a type of lake, are created between the dam and the present coast, which remain at the current sea level. “So sea level rise could take its course, but those basins remain at 0 NAP, at current sea level. This allows rivers to flow freely in those basins.”
The dam is located behind the horizon and sea level remains the same, so you will not notice it on the beach. It appears to be a paranoid plan, but Putin believes it is possible: “Technically, it is possible.”
sea level rise
Bas Junkmann, professor of hydraulic engineering at TU Delft, thinks it’s an interesting plan. “A lot of things have been thought of. They provide protection against rising sea levels, they help raise the water level in rivers. They contain water reserves, in times of drought.” But he thinks we must first look at how to improve the current system. Junkman asserts that the barrier to the sea dam only when the sea level rises several metres.
Indeed, Putin says, it is a long-term plan. “Sea level is rising slowly, but it continues. Odds are it could rise one meter by 2100, but it won’t stop there.” We have to look further, says Putin. “It’s a dam you haven’t installed for a few years, but for a long time. And then the sea level could rise by five or maybe ten metres.”
