Analysis of the Strengths and Weaknesses of Dutch Water Storage Areas as a Legal Instrument for Flood-risk Prevention

Abstract

New flood risks require a new flood risk management approach. In the Netherlands there has always been a strong focus on flood defence. However, flood defence in the form of dikes alone will not be sufficient to keep the Netherlands habitable in the future. The ‘Room for Water’ debate has led to a new legal instrument: water storage areas, which fits perfectly in one of the requirements of the Floods Directive. This relatively new instrument has its own legal framework that is embedded in water law as well as in spatial planning law. This paper analyses the legal framework of the Dutch water storage areas in order to provide a swot analysis that may serve other states that aim to improve their flood risk management strategies.