The impact of climate change on soil ageing processes in levees

The Netherlands has a long history in flood protection by building levees. However, climate change might form a risk for the strength of the levees. This challenge is becoming increasingly difficult as sea levels are rising, summer droughts are getting more severe and precipitation patterns are likely to change. These climate change induced phenomena have shown to influence the strength of levees. In order to cope with climate change, levees should be strengthened effectively in the future. POV Dijkversterking van Gebiedseigen Grond (POV-DGG) is working on this topic. Currently, there is a gap in knowledge on how soil ageing processes influence levee strength. As climate change might speed up or intensify soil processes, it is important to shed light on this topic. This has been studied by means of literature research and expert interviews. This report aims to identify (1) how levees are typically structured (2) which processes influence the strength of soils, (3) what the projected climate change is for the year 2050 and combines this knowledge to predict the influence of climate change on levee stability.