Our team

We are Dutch Delta. We come from Rotterdam, the Netherlands. We are a team of 10 students, aged 12 to 15. We are at the same school, the Libanon Lyceum, but we are not in the same class. At school we have our own classroom where we get together in our sparetime . The First Lego League means a lot to us. We take pleasure in being at work on a robot and investigating problems about natural disasters. We are a close team and we are also close friends. We spend quite a lot of time together. Thanks to the First Lego League we can do something with technics at a young age.

Dutch Delta
The Netherlands and the problems with water

X Rotterdam

Technics is where our hart is!

Hans Brinker

The Delta Works

Soon after the flood disaster of 1953 (claiming more then 1800 lives) plans were made to prevent a new disaster. By heightening the dikes and by building dams with floodgates that can be closed in case of a high water level, the chances of flooding were reduced. A number of branches of rivers were dammed.

The fear for water

Our team has investigated floods. The Netherlands are beneath sealevel and therefore there are chances of flooding. Thanks to our magnificent Delta Works our country can remain dry. But for how long ? The climate is changing and the sea level is rising. In The Netherlands we are concerned about the water. Dutch scientists are continually busy thinking of new ways of protecting the country against the threatening water.

Dams and dikes

Dikes are a sort of walls that stop water.They are made of clay and stones and are very strong. On some dikes roads have been constructed. In that way they have a double function. You can see dikes near rivers and sea shores. They prevent the flooding of the country when the water level rises. Dams are dikes constructed across waters. A dam prevents seawater flowing into the country. The longest dam in the Netherlands is the Afsluitdijk between the IJsselmeer and the Waddenzee, constructed in 1932. It is about 30 kilometres (=about 20 miles) long. Our most famous dams are the Deltaworks..

Hans Brinker
Hans Brinker was an 8 years old boy, who lived in the city of Haarlem in the 19th century One bright and sunny day his mother told him to take some pancakes to an old blind man. On his way het noticed that the water near the dike was higher than ususal. Suddenly he saw water streaming through a hole in the dike. Quickly he stuck his finger in the hole in order to stop the water. He cried for help but nobody heard him. He could not run away. It was not till the next day that he was found. But our little hero saved the city!

We are also worried about how long we can keep our feet dry. That is why we want to help our scientists.

The Netherlands without dikes