oa Waterveiligheid in het negentiende-eeuwse ‘s-Hertogenbosch: bestuurlijke strijd op drie schaalniveaus

Water safety in nineteenth century ‘s-Hertogenbosch: administrative struggle at three scale levels

Right from the time of its foundation in 1185, the city of ’s-Hertogenbosch in the province of Brabant had to struggle to secure itself against flooding. The low-lying town was situated at the confluence of waterways. The rivers Aa and Dommel flowed into the river Dieze and that into the river Maas. So the discharge of the Dieze into the Maas would be blocked. This would raise the level of the Dieze, the Aa and Dommel so much that ‘s-Hertogenbosch and the surroundings would be flooded. Additionally, water would arrive at the city overland too, because of a larger river management scheme. When the water level in the Maas was too high, from above the town of Grave part of it was allowed to flow overland, through the Beers Spillway (The Beerse Overlaat) to a lower part of the river. This prevented breaking of river dikes and large-scale damage in the province of Gelderland, but the water affected ’s-Hertogenbosch and surroundings severely. What complicated water management in this area was, that fortified ’s-Hertogenbosch formed part of the Zuiderwaterlinie (Southern Dutch Waterline). This implicated that for military reasons the area surrounding the city was flooded on purpose several times. This article describes the struggle of the local and provincial governments to improve the water control in and around the town.

This article shows the struggle from the local and provincial governments and their attempts to improve the hydrology situation in this surroundings.