Is there a risk of flooding or perhaps a water shortage?
The Departmental Coordination Centre for Crisis Management...
...of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management (DCC I&W)...
...has twenty mobile pumps at its disposal.
Government organisations from both the Netherlands and abroad...
...can submit an application to the DCC I&W for the use of an emergency pump.
A fixed team of experts from Rijkswaterstaat assesses the situation and puts together a team for the task.
To do so, they can call upon experts from a flexible pool of pump-specialists from the water boards.
The pump and the team of experts are transported to the crisis location.
There are two types of pumps and the largest pump is capable of draining an Olympic swimming pool in thirty minutes.
Is your basement flooded? These pumps are not made for this purpose.
They can be used instead, for example, to clear water in the event of a leak in the dike.
To circulate water in a lake to eliminate algae, or to drain flooded areas after heavy rainfall.
The pumps only work in water that is at least one and a half metres deep.
The drain pipes are too big for shallower areas.
During the long period of drought in 2018, the pumps were used to transfer salt water...
...from the IJsselmeer to the Wadden Sea.
The pump does this by spewing water out from the IJsselmeer over into the Wadden Sea.
Once a pump is requested, it can be operational in the Netherlands within 12 hours and on location abroad within three days.