1. Profile

2. 2
Enabling Delta Life
Deltares: almost a century of
experience in a young institute
On 1 January 2008, four Dutch partners brought
together their expertise and experience. GeoDelft,
WL | Delft Hydraulics, the Bussiness Unit Soil and
Groundwater of TNO and parts of Rijkswaterstaat
teamed up as Deltares.
Deltares
• employs 900 water and subsurface experts
• is a non-profit organisation
with an annual turnover of €100 million
• has 75% of its work in Europe, and 25% elsewhere
in the world
[Ameland, Netherlands]

3. 3
Deltares is a leading research institute for water and sub-
surface issues with its base in the Netherlands. Throughout
the world, our advanced expertise enables safe, clean and
sustainable living in deltas, coastal areas and river basins.
With this goal in mind, we develop knowledge, innovative
products and services, pool our knowledge with others, and
make the results available. We advise governments and the
private sector, and use our expertise to make sound and
independent assessments of the physical condition of deltas,
coastal areas and river basins.
This range of roles can be seen in our work throughout the
world. Our consultancy work picks up where others leave off,
often in the exploratory stages of a project, with independent
advice using the latest advances. We extend our knowledge
base in government research programmes and contract
research for contractors and the engineering sector, teaming
up with universities and other research institutions along the
way. In the process, we encourage innovations, and speed up
the pathway making new advances available for application
in practice.
To live and work comfortably and safely in the narrow
confines of coastal areas and river basins, local residents
need smart approaches to the subsurface and the water
systems. Deltares supplies answers to social issues by
combining technical expertise with an understanding of
political, administrative and economic processes. This inter-
disciplinary approach, our independent position, and our role
as an authority with a reputation for integrity mean we can
get pro-actively involved in public debate, implementing our
strategic principle: ‘Enabling Delta Life’.
Water and the subsurface involve not only technological issues,
but also natural processes, spatial planning and admini-
strative and legal processes. We apply our understanding of
those processes in an integrated way, improving the quality
of life in deltas, coastal areas and river basins. The integrated
approach allows us to come up with innovative solutions. In
the Netherlands, it is known as ‘delta technology’.

4. 4
Coast and Sea
By understanding how coasts and seas work as a system, in models that are used to implement European initiatives
we can make the most of natural processes in planning and such as the Water and Marine Strategy Framework Direc-
management. This means building with nature, sustain- tives. We also help government authorities tackle pollution
able hydraulic engineering projects in coastal areas and and disaster management more effectively. We develop
smart coastal maintenance making the most of natural prediction systems for early warnings and to advise on
forces. Deltares expertise about the effect of weather con- public works.
ditions on natural processes, coastal defences and
hydraulic engineering ranges from everyday conditions to The potential of the physical system has to be managed
extreme events like storm tides, tsunamis and hurricanes. so that large numbers of people can live and work close
to the sea without too much impact on natural processes.
Deltares supports policy and management for coastal Deltares provides consultancy services for hydraulic
zones (for example with Integrated Coastal Zone Manage- engineering projects that make this possible. We work
ment). The areas we work in cover climate change or on coastal protection, recreation, energy supplies and
the impact of measures for protecting water and ground transportation infrastructure.
quality. We have integrated our knowledge of ecosystems
[Foreshore replenishment]
Policy and Planning
Deltares supplies the understanding of water and the We explore and identify future threats to society so that
subsurface that government authorities need to make we can decide on the knowledge, innovative products and
policy and plans for issues such as area development, services that will be required to face those challenges. Our
innovation management and water safety. In that way, expertise and experience can be used to their full potential
Deltares supports the development of new policy, the in the exploratory phase of studies and projects: during the
analysis and evaluation of existing policy, and the estab- definition of the problem and the investigation of poten-
lishment of visions for the future. So we conduct strategic tial solutions. Together with our clients and other research
reviews, scenario studies and integrated studies, both in institutes, we work on the major challenges for the future:
the Netherlands and on the international stage. the design and management of sustainable deltas, coastal
areas and river basins that can cope with the demands of
the climate. In Europe, spatial planning depends increas-
ingly upon water and the subsurface. Elsewhere in the
world, Deltares can draw on this knowledge and experi-
ence, helping to design more sustainable living environ-
ments with better defences against the climate.
[Coral Reef, Red Sea]

5. 5
Rivers, Lakes and Groundwater
This is another area where an understanding of how the completely interdependent in terms of quality and quan-
system operates is crucial. It is at the heart of our consul- tity. So we link up models for groundwater and surface
tancy activities and also, for example, our models for water for large areas.
predicting river levels, and the flow patterns and quality
of groundwater and surface water. Our core expertise isLocal residents not only need protection against the water
technical knowledge in the areas of hydrology, geology,in lakes and rivers, they also need access to that water.
morphology and hydraulic engineering. In all the areas Deltares provides advice about how to safeguard security
where Deltares is active, we supplement this technical and to use water for shipping, as a source of drinking water,
knowledge with information about ecology and economics,irrigation water and cooling water, for generating energy
safeguarding the social relevance of our consultancy and for protecting nature. We are also active in areas
work. where the link with water is not immediately apparent:
energy recovery by means of heat and cold in the subsur-
Using Integrated Water Resources Management, Deltares face is a good example. So a sound understanding of the
supports public policy and management for fresh water. interaction between groundwater and surface water can
Water bodies in the subsurface and surface water are actually drive innovation.
[Biesbosch, Netherlands]
[Sheet piling]
Soil and the Subsurface
The ground beneath our feet is more than just the surface of dredging and sand production. An understanding of
on which we live, build and work. It is the source of raw groundwater in urban areas can also be used in combin-
materials such as sand, gravel and clay. We use space ation with information about how ground behaves for civil
below the ground so that we can house more functions in a engineering projects and infrastructure. Our expertise in
small area. The subsurface is a nutrient-rich environment geo-engineering and foundations are vital to the execution
for plants; it contains groundwater that is important for us of these projects in soft ground and to the management of
and for nature, and that interacts with the water in lakes, the associated risks. Economic activity has resulted in the
rivers and streams. It is the strength of Deltares that we pollution of the subsurface in many places in the world.
have the expertise covering all these different aspects of Deltares advises about the most efficient soil decon-
soil and the subsurface. tamination approach based on local conditions and the
continuity of production processes. We are present where
The combination of different disciplines brings together, innovations are needed to live and work in a clean and safe
for example, information about the geological structure of environment.
the subsurface and technological know-how in the areas

6. 6
Deltares software passes on the latest advances in the area
of water and the subsurface to users, often in collaboration
with our knowledge partners and users. Its application is
constantly generating new research questions and new
insights. The result is a continuous cycle of application and
development, enhancing our expertise and the software. We
aim to provide open architecture that makes combinations
with third-party software possible.
Integrating the software enhances the range of application
options open to users. An example is the management of
flood risks: integrating the software for high water predic-
tions, for modelling floods when dikes collapse, and for
the effects of interventions such as evacuation is a way of
improving support for decision-making when there is a threat
of flooding.
Some of our software is marketed under the Deltares Systems
brand in more than 60 countries. This covers the full range
of Deltares operations, from applications for coastal waters
and estuaries (Delft3D), rivers and urban water management
(SOBEK) to applications for designing sheet piling structures
(MSheet) and testing the stability of water defences (MStab).
Pearl River System, China
[Deltares researchers]
[Dubai Creek, United Arab Emirates]

7. 7
In the Netherlands, Deltares conducts experiments in its own
facilities for water and soil research (including an environ-
mental laboratory, the large-scale Delta flume and Geo-
Centrifuge). The results of these experiments allow us to
validate our models and to test, for example, the optimal
design for infrastructure and biochemical concepts for
reinforcing the subsurface. Our facilities are also open to
European researchers.
The range of complementary facilities demonstrates how
our research addresses all the facets of the behaviour of the
subsurface and water. We study the quality of water and the
morphology of rivers, lakes and the coast. We also study the
strength of the ground and the subsurface, the effects of wave
loads and currents on structures and the stability of those
structures. Various physical processes often meet in a single
experiment, for example the size of the wave load on a dike
and the strength of that dike in terms of soil mechanics. The
combination of our facilities means we can engage in small-
and large-scale research in preparation for the responsible
application of our knowledge in practice, as in the construc-
tion of flood defences, building foundations, or changing soil
properties using bacteria.
[large-scale wave research facility]
[tunnel boring machine]

8. December 2008
PO Box 177
2600 MH Delft
The Netherlands
T +31 (0)88-DELTARES (335 82 73)
info@deltares.nl
www.deltares.nl