This morning at 8:00 am it was time … it was up to Jens op het Veld of Rijkswaterstaat and colleagues Gerard Boon and Roel van Gerwen to jointly open the ‘tap’ to let the first water flow back into the canal. In the end, no less than 2 billion liters of water must flow back into the drained section.

Four siphon lines across the temporary dam at Berg aan de Maas draw water through a vacuum installation. This consists of a vacuum pump. This pump sucks all the air out of the pipe which creates a vacuum. When a vacuum is created, the water flows through the pipe without the help of a pump.

The pipes have a diameter of 1 meter. By means of valves we can regulate the water. That way we can precisely control the flow per pipe.

To give the new soil additional protection from the force of the water, we reinforced the soil on the north side of the dam with concrete. We have also placed three containers there where the pipes come out. The containers are intended to break the force of the water. The fourth pipe will not be deployed until it is completely submerged.