During the spring melt or extended rainfall, many municipalities in Europe struggle against flooding on a regular basis. Insufficient drainage systems, intervention in river landscapes, increasing urbanization, and the threat of climate change increase the risk of floods. Coastal countries and municipalities are reinforcing their protective walls by building higher and higher dikes, but the problem is usually not their height. The dikes are simply too weak.
An early warning system whose data can be called up over the Internet can be of assistance here. The first step for this has been taken: “UrbanFlood” is the name of a project that the European Commission wants to use to provide support for Internet-
based monitoring of protective dams. An international consortium of which Siemens is a part is currently developing new technologies for flood protection in order to create a global monitoring system.
For the experimental dikes (in the Netherlands) built for “UrbanFlood,” the most important elements are sensors and learning software. The researchers allow a dike to erode in a targeted manner in order to find out what happens during a dike break. They then use the measured data to adjust the software and develop forecasting procedures.
The idea goes back to Siemens researcher Bernhard Lang, who with his work won the Siemens-wide idea competition for sustainability in the category “Sustainable Portfolio Ideas.” An additional test has been underway since 2010 on the Livedijk. The system continuously monitors the barriers, indicates weak points, and warns if there is threat of breakage. The project is set to run for two years.
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