Dutch study water safety in Colombia

The dike protects Colombia’s third largest city against flooding from the nearby Cauca River, but is very old.

Colombia was hit by severe flooding in 2010 and in 2011, and President Santos personally called on the Dutch ambassador in Colombia to help mobilise assistance and find a lasting solutions. He assigned top priority to the dike at Cali.

The Agua Blanca dike was built in the late 1950s and early 1960s to make the surrounding land suitable for agriculture. Over the years the area has become urbanised and immediately behind the dike is Agua Blanca, which has 700,000 inhabitants. The area also houses a water treatment plant that supplies 60% of Cali with drinking water.

Hans Leenen, a senior consultant at Royal HaskoningDHV said, “Flooding would have a severe impact on the area. Our first step will be to examine how much protection the dike actually provides and, based on the outcome, we will suggest short term measures.

“Once we have a good picture of the protection the dike currently provides we will be able to say what needs to be done to create a higher level of security and to indicate the scale of investment required.”

In phase 2, Royal HaskoningDHV will put forward recommendations for how Colombia can protect Cali over the longer haul against high water.

The contract will culminate in a report that sets out recommendations, training courses for local water managers and a presentation organised for President Santos.