VWI and the Municipality of Dordrecht are contributing to better decisions impacting water by implementing the five Valuing Water Principles in the city of Dordrecht.
Aim
The aim is to enhance flood security through a Multi-Level Safety (MLS) Model in the city of Dordrecht. Through co-creation and diplomacy, VWI and the municipality of Dordrecht developed a strategy for the implementation of the MLS model. Its bottom-up approach ensured the participation of various stakeholders active in the region, resulting in a more inclusive and collaborative process of policy development and implementation.
Outcomes
These are the main outcomes:
• VWI introduced the VWPs, which guided the policy development phase.
• The municipality received valuable guidance and methods for transitioning from policy design to policy implementation.
• Practically, this involved VWI assisting in mapping the various stakeholders affected by the policy, allowing each stakeholder to be involved in the implementation process. Furthermore, the policy implementation plan was devised with the VWPs as its foundation.
• For VWI, the ongoing Dordrecht Journey provided an opportunity to test and apply its core principles and assess the added value of its approach.
• Additionally, the Dordrecht Journey allowed the Dutch government to apply VWI’s approach domestically.
• The application of VWI’s approach resulted in increased knowledge uptake among its various partners in the journey, and awareness of the VWPs was raised, demonstrating the clear benefits of VWI’s approach.
Multi-layer system from floods
The three layers of safety are:
- Protect: Physical flood defences like dykes, storm barriers, defence walls that have been well designed to withstand also rare floods
- Prevent: Planning ahead: not granting building licenses in areas where flooding is likely to occur
- Prepare: Evacuation plans for when the worst does happen.
