Controlling the Oosterschelde Storm-Surge Barrier—Vol. I, Summary Report

The first in a four-volume study to assist the Netherlands government in a policy analysis of alternative control strategies for operating the storm-surge barrier across the Oosterschelde basin. For each alternative, the project analyzed several consequences or "impacts," including the safety of the dikes along the Oosterschelde; the effects on the ecology and the shellfish and fishing industries of the region; the impacts on water management and shipping in the basin; and the implications for the design of the barrier and its control system. This volume describes the approach and summarizes the results of the complete analysis. It first presents an analysis of hydraulic conditions and closure frequency, then describes the rationale for selecting three alternative strategies for detailed evaluation, and finally illustrates the impacts of the strategies, category by category, through the use of a matrix display device--a colored scorecard.