Impact analysis of inner-city quay wall reconstruction on surface water drainage capacity

Abstract

Cities in The Netherlands are famous for their canals. These canals are constructed with quay walls and until recently left untouched as part of an iconic cultural heritage. These inner-city quay walls constructions are however in a poor stage. Particularly quay walls constructed on wooden piles are corroded and need to be reconstructed to prevent collapsing. Reconstructions are often performed from the water side during which the flow dimensions of the canals are temporarily changed. These reconstructions might impact the drainage capacity of canals in a negative way and therefore enhance the risk of flooding. Climate change is expected to increase the severity of heavy precipitation events for The Netherlands [21] and strengthens this risk.

A case study was done in the Dutch city The Hague where 18 kilometer of inner-city quay walls still has to be reconstructed. An 1D hydrodynamic SOBEK model was used to model the effect of quay wall reconstruction. In The Hague field data was obtained to optimize the hydrodynamic model. The effect of inner-city quay wall reconstruction was analyzed under stationairy conditions towards losses in drainage capacity and under heavy precipitation conditions towards possible increases in peak water levels.