LAND

RECLAMATION
PRESENTATION BY

101117002 – AISWARYA SUNIL

101117005 – BHARATHAN G S
101117009 – DIVYA RAMASESHAN
101117025 – P ROOPENDRA KUMAR
LAND RECLAMATION IN THE
NETHERLANDS
AN ABSTRACT
BASED ON THE RESEARCH BY- ROBERT J. HOEKSEMA Calvin College Engineering Department, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA
INTRODUCTION

• The Netherlands has faced unique water management

challenges. Much of the western part of this country is
covered by compressible peat or clay soils.
• Historic land use practices resulted in loss, decay, and
consolidation of these soils and subsequent land
subsidence.
• This, along with the sea level rise, tides, and storms,
resulted in a country where one-third of the land lies
below mean sea level and without dunes, dikes, and
pumps, 65% would be under water at high tide.
• Over many centuries the Dutch have fought against this
loss of land. Three stages in the historical
development of land drainage and reclamation
activities are presented.
INTRODUCTION

• The first stage was in the sixteenth and seventeenth

centuries when many lakes north of Amsterdam were
drained and reclaimed for agricultural use.
• Windmills were used to pump these lakes dry. Next, in
the nineteenth century, Lake Haarlem became the
largest lake drained in the Netherlands and the one of
the first to be drained using steam-powered pumps
alone.
• Finally, in the twentieth century the Zuiderzee tidal
estuary was drained and reclaimed, resulting in an
additional 1650 km2 of new land for agriculture,
recreation, and urban expansion.
IN FIG: WINDMILL DESIGN
DRAINED LAKE
PODDLERS

• In the area just north of the city of Amsterdam peat was

drained in parallel ditches toward the small rivers.
• The areas around the rivers subsided first, causing them
to grow into lakes.
• Wave action on these lakes eroded the shore, causing
further growth. The resulting lakes were often named
after the rivers from which they were created.
• These lakes, many of which formed between 1150 and
1250, became a serious threat to the safety of the region.
• To drain a lake the existing streams were first cut off and
redirected around it. Next, a ring canal was dug around
the perimeter of the lake and spoils from the canal were IN FIG: RECLAMATION PHASE PLANNING IN BEEMESTER PODDLER
used to build a dike separating the canal and the lake.
DRAINED LAKE
PODDLERS
LAKE HARLLEM

• There are several things that distinguish the

reclamation of Lake Haarlem (in Dutch
Haarlemmermeer) from the seventeenth-century lake
reclamations north of Amsterdam.
• The first is size. At 180 km2 Lake Haarlem was 2.5 times
larger than Lake Beemster.
• Second, Lake Haarlem was drained using steam power
instead of windmills.
• Third, the earlier reclamations were all privately
funded. By the middle of the nineteenth century the
venture capital needed to take on such large projects
was no longer available, making the reclamation of the IN FIG: STEAM POWERED PUMPING STATIONS
Lake Haarlem a public works project.
LAKE HARLLEM
ZUIDERZEE

• The first plans for the reclamation of the Zuiderzee

were published as early 1667 by Hendrik Stevin. But, at
6700 km2 , the Zuiderzee was almost 100 times bigger
than the largest lake drained in the seventeenth
century.
• The goal of the 30 km Barrier Dam was to block off the
Zuiderzee from the influence of the North Sea.
• This structure provided several benefits. First, it
protected the areas surrounding the Zuiderzee from
flooding.
• Second, it provided for land transportation routes
between the Noord-Holland and Friesland provinces.
IN FIG: CLOSING THE GAP OF BARRIER DAM
ZUIDERZEE

• Third, with fresh water entering from the Ijssel River

and discharging through two outlet sluices in the dam,
the Zuiderzee would turn into a freshwater lake – to be
called the Ijsselmeer.
• It was felt that this positive impact on local agriculture
outweighed the negative impact on the region’s fishing
industry.
• The shape and height of the Barrier Dam were
designed for the typical storms that occurred in the
period from 1825 to 1926. The slope of the face of the
dike was set at 4:1. The core of the dike was
constructed by placing boulder clay on a prepared sea
bottom. This material was found in abundance in the IN FIG:MASTERPLAN OF RECLAIMATION IN ZUIDERZEE
Zuiderzee area.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT ON
LAND RECLAMATION PROJECTS IN THE
NETHERLANDS
BASED ON THE RESEARCH BY- GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE NETHERLANDS
INTRODUCTION

• Land reclamation has been and still is one of the most

interesting aspects of engineering in The Netherlands,
where about 60% of the surface of the country is at or
below sea level. Many environmental geological items
are relevant for land reclamation.
• The geological, geotechnical, geohydrological and
constructional aspects of the planned reclamation of a
large polder in the IJsselmeer, called the Markerwaard,
are discussed, as well as mitigation of the detrimental
effects of the reclamation by applying counter
measures (Fig. 1).
• The Geological Survey of The Netherlands was asked to
present a detailed geological picture of the study area.
Geology

• The Netherlands forms part of the subsiding basin of

the North Sea, which is filled with a succession of
poorly consolidated to unconsolidated sediments.
These sediments generally increase in thickness
towards the NW.
• The top of the underlying consolidated hard-rock beds
is composed of Upper Cretaceous limestones and is
situated at a depth of 900-1000 m below the surface in
the study area.
• The Cenozoic deposits were not affected by substantial
folding, and tectonic structures are confined to block
faulting in deeper strata, which led to NW-SE-oriented
horsts and grabens. The predominantly clayey Tertiary
deposits attain locally a thickness of more than 500 m.
• The top of the Tertiary is formed by a 20-50-m thick
marine-clay bed of Pliocene Age, belonging to the
Oosterhout Formation.
Fragment of classification type
map.
Geohydrology

• Reclamation of a lake area will cause a sharp drop in

the original surface water level to the new phreatic
groundwater level in the reclaimed area.
• This, in turn, will cause substantial changes in the
piezometric heads in the aquifers under the area to be
reclaimed and in the surrounding areas.
• Changes in the various groundwater heads are strongly
controlled by the geological parameters of the
Pleistocene and Holocene beds, e.g., the spatial
distribution of permeable and poorly permeable layers.

IN FIG: Calculated drawdown in piezometric heads (in cm) in study area.

Geotechnical
considerations

• One of the most prominent effects of a reduction of the piezometric level in the top aquifer is unquestionably land
subsidence. Subsidence can be attributed to a reduction of the pore-water pressure in the overlying soft Holocene
deposits, increasing the effective stress.
• This in turn leads to volume reduction in compressible deposits (settlement in clay and peat beds) resulting in land
subsidence. As already pointed out, land subsidence can have harmful effects on constructions, agriculture and nature.
For the calculation of the costs generated by these effects, both the magnitude and the rate of subsidence must be
known.
• The magnitude of settlement due to changes in the groundwater situation depends on the piezometric drawdown in the
first aquifer, the phreatic drawdown of the shallow watertable in the coverbeds, and the actual hydrological conditions,
as well as on the distribution, thickness and composition of the coverbeds in terms of geotechnical and geohydrological
parameters.
Calculated land subsidence as a result of the construction
of the planned polder.
 Effects on foundations

• The historical buildings in the area have shallow foundations. The settlement of these buildings corresponds with about 75%
of the land subsidence.
• The foundation piles supporting most of the structures in the study area are footed in the topmost Pleistocene sandbed,
which has high but variable bearing capacities. This sandbed corresponds to the first aquifer.
• Due to both land subsidence and increased effective stresses in the compressible Holocene coverbeds additional downward
forces would be exerted on the piles (i.e., negative skin friction). Negative skin friction due to the predicted settlement was
calculated for a number of representative situations in the area.
• According to the results, wooden piles would sink by an amount corresponding to maximally 20-60% of the land subsidence
at that specific site. However, the increased negative skin frictions would have only marginal effects on concrete piles.
 Calculation of damage

• Damage to constructions: Three types of damage were distinguished: primary (constructional damage), secondary (decreased
value, costs of legal advice, etc.), and tertiary (monitoring, administration, etc.). Using the Geographical Information Systems
(G.I.S.), the damage costs for each building type in each sub-area could be calculated.
• Damage to agriculture: A drawdown of the phreatic head may cause a decreased supply of moisture to the topmost beds
during the growing season, resulting in a reduced crop yield. Such drawdown is stronger controlled by the present drainage
situation. The average reduction of the moisture supply was calculated to be up to a few millimetres at maximum. The negative
effects on crop yield, of course depending on crop type, was calculated based on current market prices. The costs of
intensification of sprinkling was taken into account as well.
• Damage to the ecology: Drawdown of the phreatic head influences the air/moisture distribution in the soil. This in turn causes
several changes in the soil, affecting plant life, for example the oxygen and moisture supply to the roots and the mineralization,
oxidation and nutrient contents of the soil. These effects would lead to some shifts in the species composition of the
vegetation. A special indicative method to predict this kind of change was applied to the vegetation in nature reserves in the
study area. On the basis of, o.a., the rareness of plant species, vegetations were validated and the loss of certain vegetations
was determined as damage to the ecology. It appeared that such damages would occur only in very limited areas. Damage to
the avifauna (wet meadow birds) can occur as a result of changes in vegetation and in the physical conditions of the topsoil. It
appeared that damage can occur over larger areas compared to vegetation.
 Counter measures

• Fortunately, modern geohydrologic engineering techniques enable us to mitigate such very costly man-induced hazards by the
application of counter measures. The most promising measures all have in common compensation of the drawdown of the
piezometric levels by artificial recharge of the topmost aquifers. Three levels of compensation can be aimed at: total
compensation of the drawdown (permanent or temporary) throughout the land area, total compensation of the drawdown in
the urban areas alone, and partial compensation of the most vulnerable areas. Temporary compensation or retardation of the
drawdown can presumably prevent the most severe damage to buildings and constructions.
• Three potential counter measures were studied in detail:
1. Injection wells/recirculation system
2. Infiltration grooves
3. Infiltration wells
MUMBAI – THE LAND OF 7
ISLANDS
THE HISTORY
INTRODUCTION

• Mumbai was an Archiepelago of “ seven islands”, Namely Colaba,

Mazagaon, Mahim, Parel, Bombay island, Worli and Old Woman’s
island. This group of islands formed a part of the Kingdom of
Ashoka, The famed buddhist emperor of India.
• Mumbai has constantly been well known for oceanic exchange
before being controlled by Silharas from 810 to 1260.
• The “Koli”, an aboriginal tribe of fishermen, were the first
inhabitants of present-day Mumbai.
• By 1845, the islands had been merged into one landmass by
means of multiple land reclamation projects. The resulting island
of Bombay was later merged with the nearby islands
of Trombay and Salsette that lay to its north-east and north
respectively to form Greater Bombay. These islands now constitute
the southern part of the city of Bombay (Mumbai).
HERITAGE

• The Hindu Rule

Originally, the seven islands were a part of the kingdom
of Ashoka. After Ashoka's demise, countless rulers of the
Silahara dynasty took over until the Kingdom of Gujarat
annexed the islands in 1343 AD and remained such till
1543 AD.
• Portuguese Colonization
In 1543 AD, the Portuguese seized the isles from Bahadur
Shah of Gujarat, and they remained in their control until
1661. Following this period, the isles were ceded as
dowry to Catherine de Braganza when she married
Charles II of England. After the population in the city
began to grow, the East India Company officially
transferred their headquarters from Surat to the new city
called Bombay.

IN FIG: BOMBAY’S FAMOUS FORT, CIRCA 1850.

https://www.ichangemycity.com/history-and-heritage/mumbai-the-land-of-seven-islands
HERITAGE

• The Hornby Vellard And Industrialization

The Hornby Vellard was one of the first engineering
projects to be undertaken in Mumbai. William Hornby,
the governor of Bombay, initiated the project in the early
18th century despite harsh opposition from the East
India Company.
• Thereon, the city began to take shape with several civil
engineering projects underway, marking the birth of the
Industrial Revolution. The seven islands were finally
merged into one single mass in 1845, and in 1853, the
country's first railway connection was accomplished
between Bombay and Thane. 

IN FIG: VIEW OF THE ISLANDS OF BOMBAY AND SALSETTE, 1803

 FROM ISLAND TO
REGION

2012, MERGING OF ISLANDS AND MAINLAND 2050, MERGING OF REGION THROUGH NEW
1670, ISLANDS IN AN ESTUARY
(present)
ISLANDS AND LINKAGES
(past)
(future)

http://www.noel-murphy.com/rotch/2013/08/19/evolutionary-mumbai-making-of-the-island-city/
MARINE DRIVE
• Marine Drive owes its existence to land reclamation and
profiteering.

• From its early origins as a British trading outpost to its

messy, chaotic present, the city has undergone several
stages of reclamation: first to join the seven islands that
constituted it and then to keep expanding out into the
water.

• Successive rulers dreamt up their own ambitious

projects; investors and speculators were quick to move
in.

• The familiar nexus of politicians, administrators,

moneybags and fixers conspired behind closed doors,
justifying their plans in the name of urban development.

https://www.artdecomumbai.com/research/the-making-of-marine-drive/
MARINE DRIVE

• One such push came at the turn of the 19th century

when, after a devastating outbreak of plague, the British
administrators decided to decongest the city and to
reclaim land at its southern end.

• The Bombay City Improvement Trust began with the

reclamation that became Cuffe Parade.

• It was successful enough to inspire a more ambitious

plan on the Back bay.

• It was not an entirely new idea – something on those

lines had been thought of in the 1860s but was
abandoned in the economic crash that followed the
American Civil War.

https://www.artdecomumbai.com/research/the-making-of-marine-drive/
MARINE DRIVE - MAKING
• The government recommended that only four of the
eight planned blocks should be reclaimed.

• The result can be seen when one stands at the jetty-like

strip that juts out into the sea at Nariman Point and
gazes at Cuffe Parade across the gap.

• Had it been filled in; Marine Drive would have been

much longer.

• As it was, 16.6 acres emerged from the sea opposite the

imposing Gothic headquarters of the Western Railway
and Churchgate station, which had until then been on
the waterfront.

https://www.artdecomumbai.com/research/the-making-of-marine-drive/
MARINE DRIVE - MAKING
• The new scheme envisaged reclamation all along the western
side of the southern tip of the city, a beautiful promenade that
would not only have apartment blocks and office buildings but
also public squares in the manner of Oxbridge quads.

• The homes were to be for the rich, but the proposal was
marketed as if it would somehow decongest the crowded
“native” areas.

• However, British administrators balked at cost estimates made

in the first two decades of the century, and the Indian-
dominated municipal corporation opposed an increase in the
housing stock that might lower rents.

• Nevertheless, after private money moved in, the project began

to take shape.

• The Backbay reclamation scheme began in 1919. Stone and

mud were quarried in the north in Kandivali,  brought by train
to the site and dumped into the sea.

https://www.artdecomumbai.com/research/the-making-of-marine-drive/
IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF LAND
RECLAMATION IN MUMBAI
THE AFTERMATH
IMPACTS OF LAND RECLAMATION

Land reclamation though with its many benefits, has certain disadvantages.
• Land reclamation is associated with some dangers, such as flooding and soil liquefaction. Reclaimed lands are
expensive and can be damaging to corals and marine life.
• Land reclamation activities can, directly and indirectly, impact the environment. Examples of direct effects
include alterations in coastal geomorphology, variations in the chemical content of water and changes in
biological composition along the littoral zone.
• Reclamation usually leads to the decline of biological diversity, the decrease of natural wetlands, and the
extinct of habitats for animals and plants. For migratory species, the living environment of marine plants and
marine animals has been seriously affected.
• Reclaimed land is also a risk in earthquake-prone areas. The prolonged shaking can trigger a process called
liquefaction, where the once-solid sediments of reclaimed areas can liquefy. This was a significant contributor
to the devastation of the huge San Francisco earthquake of 1906.
LOST IN RECLAMATION

•A STATE government study has blamed unscientific and

haphazard land reclamation for ecological damage and perennial
floods in Mumbai.

•The city has a 300-year history of land reclamations—prior to

independence, over 35 sq km of land was reclaimed by the
colonial administration to link the erstwhile seven islands of
Worli, Parel, Mahim, Mazagaon, Bombay, Little Colaba and
Colaba.

•But the highest number of legal and illegal reclamations have

been done in the past 40 years, many a time leading to
controversies, shows “History of Reclamation”, the first report of
the four-part study, “Land Reclamation in Mumbai”.

https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/lost-in-reclamation-40806
LOST IN RECLAMATION

•According to the study conducted by the state government-run

think tank, Mumbai Transformation Support Unit (MTSU), the
total built-up area of the city has shot up from 195.01 sq km in
the 1970s to 385.67 sq km in 2011.

•This ate into over 50 per cent of Mumbai’s beaches, lakes,

vegetated islets, hillocks, inter-tidal zones and mangroves,
causing irreparable loss to natural landscape.
• “As much as 54.73 sq km of Mumbai’s land is under the process
of reclamation as observed in a satellite image of 2012,” says the
study.

IN FIG: COASTAL ROAD PROJECT, MUMBAI

https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/lost-in-reclamation-40806
IMPACTS OF LAND
RECLAMATION IN MUMBAI
• BKC has been created by carrying out land-filling of 620
acres into the river, wetlands and mangroves. All that area
was an integral part of the river estuary (and) has been
reclaimed by MMRDA
• The reclamation of 600 acres for creation of the Bandra-
Kurla Complex (BKC) from 1973 onwards has resulted in the
Mithi overflowing and flooding areas around it.
• This is frequently affecting Mumbai’s suburban railway
lifelines and people are forced evacuate especially from
Kranti Nagar and Bamandaya Pada along its banks during
the monsoons.

https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/lost-in-reclamation-40806
IMPACTS OF LAND
RECLAMATION IN MUMBAI
• Many recommendations such as widening and deepening of
water were not implemented, resulting in flooding of the
downstream of the catchment area in July 2005 resulting in
enormous damage to life and property with deaths and
tremendous financial losses.

• Depletion of vegetation, transformation of soil cover to

concretized landscape has reduced permeability, increased run-
off, which has been one of the primary causes for the flooding in
Mumbai during monsoons

• With the High Tide Line (HTL) shifting to the inter-tidal zone
associated with reclamation, mangroves and mudflats are
gradually wiped out as is seen in the Lokhandwala environs; the
creeks and channels tend to get shallower and narrower,
affecting drainage outflow.

https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/lost-in-reclamation-40806
CURRENT LAND
RECLAMATION IN MUMBAI
• Projects like SEZs, Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor, and
construction of transport links and terminals are likely to
pose serious threat to the already fragile littoral zone or
shallow water area immediately adjoining the shoreline
which supports various life forms and is at the beginning of
submarine topography of Greater Mumbai, and thereby keep
pace of land reclamation unabated leading to its consequent
distortion and degradation.
• The idea of building a coastal road in the sea between Haji Ali
and Nariman Point was first mooted by a consultancy firm
Wilbur Smith and Associates in 1962.

https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/lost-in-reclamation-40806
CURRENT LAND
RECLAMATION IN MUMBAI
• The 29.2-km-long freeway between Marine Lines and Versova
is expected to reduce travel time between the city’s south and
north from two hours to 40 minutes.
• Environmentalist Debi Goenka says such extensive
reclamation will not only impact marine biodiversity but
fishing activity as well. Environmental activists argue that
Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) clearance in May 2017 was
only for reclaiming 90 hectares.

https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/lost-in-reclamation-40806
REFERENCES
NETHERLANDS
• ROBERT J. HOEKSEMA Calvin College Engineering
Department, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA
• GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE NETHERLANDS
THANK
MUMBAI
• https://www.ichangemycity.com/history-and-heritage/mumb
ai-the-land-of-seven-islands YOU!
• http://www.noel-murphy.com/rotch/2013/08/19/evolutionar
y-mumbai-making-of-the-island-city/
• https://www.artdecomumbai.com/research/the-making-of-m
arine-drive/
• https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/lost-in-reclamation-40
806