| Steve Edwards' website |
| |
| |
| |
|
A polder is a section of land held dry by dikes, and equipped with a mechanical system that evacuates excess water....
|
The necessities of managing water-flow in property below the elevation of the natural water table has always been further complicated by the shared ownership of land within a polder, the relationship between neighboring polders, and the requirement for the management of large amounts of water flowing across land with little topographical variation.
Discussion and co-operation have always been essential for polder maintenance, and this has made these qualities essential to Dutch culture. The agreements that are necessary to the function of these water systems require a communal decision-making process.
The Dutch have a tendency to form policy by consensus in place of leadership. This, the so-called "poldermodel" or "polder politics," comes intimately connected with requirements in a land where local, regional, and national decisions about water have always determined mutual well-being and survival.
Even beyond the obvious need for neighborhood consensus on infrastructure directly related to the evacuation of excess water, there are various ways that strictly local action can influence an entire polder. Even construction of greenhouses, for example, that cover significant areas of a polder bottom could affect the seepage of drainwater in a way that would affect the groundwater level of the polder community. An area of open water may be required by that community in order to counteract the effect of a large construction area.
These decisions are matters for consensus; thus, discussion — lots of it — and pragmatic thinking.
| |