Netherlands Looks to Float Itself Out of Harm's Way

Most of this country would be underwater before the zebra-striped couch in Cees Westdijk's living room gets wet. That reveals two things about this spongy place. The first is the problem: The Netherlands sits in a continental dent that has had the Dutch fighting the intrusion of water for centuries The second is a solution: Cees' home floats. "The house is a little bit moving," says Cees, whose last name highlights the long war between the Dutch and the sea. In English, it means "West dike," a reference to the nation's protective barriers along its wave-chewed borders with the North Sea and several major rivers.

There are 50 "water houses" in Cees' neighborhood along the Maas, the country's first large-scale effort to build floating homes. The Dutch are a commercially ambitious people, but planners are signaling concerns about expanding development in natural areas that are needed to hold excess water. The idea is to give water space before it takes it. Floating homes allow for commercial development without displacing flood plains. Cees' house will only float perhaps once every five years, during infrequent, but imminent, flooding. There are 36 of these "amphibious houses" along the Maas, and 14 others that float all the time.

Netherlands Looks to Float Itself Out of Harm's Way - NYTimes.com - by Evan Lehmann