Ir.D.F. Woudagemaal

The Woudagemaal (Dutch Gemaal = dt pumping station, pumping station ) is located in the village Tacozijl near the Frisian town of Lemmer on the IJsselmeer. It is the largest and only still operating steam pumping station in the world.

Name

It was named after the Dutch Civil Dirk Frederik Wouda, who was responsible as an employee of the Water Management Office of the province of Friesland for its construction.

Construction

The plan for the building was erected in 1913 from the collaboration of engineers Wouda and Dijxhoorn and was a part of the " Zuiderzee ", the largest Dutch water construction project of the 20th century, as a result of which remained among others, the IJsselmeer as a residual sea and the new province of Flevoland rose up from the sea.

In the years 1917 and 1918, the building was erected, and it was in 1918 by lightning in a chimney a delay. On 7 October 1920, the Wouda pumping station was inaugurated by Queen Wilhelmina and first went into operation.

The building was declared a Rijksmonument.

Technology and history

Among the buildings of the complex include the engine house and boiler house. Four flood gates release the water into the IJsselmeer. The pumping station itself consists of four double steam engines with an output of 500 hp (about 368 kW) and two (ie 8 products) centrifugal pumps. This can be per minute pumped into the IJsselmeer 4,000 m³ ( 4,000,000 l so ). This is also still about 6 % of the Frisian flood. Friesland is on average 52 cm below the level of the sea.

Steam engines and pumps were products of Maschinenfabrik Jaffa in Utrecht.

First, the steam engines were fired with coal. Up to 24 workers were then employed in the plant. After the war, at times even peat was burned. In 1956, the coal- fired steam boilers were replaced by four new boiler. In 1967 the plant was converted to oil firing. It is since then heated with heavy oil and consumed them for a day use 12 to 13 tons.

Until 1966, the pumping station Wouda has regulated only the level of Friesland. In that year, the pumping station JL Hoogland was taken at Stavoren in operation that runs electrically. Since then the use of the Wouda pumping station is limited to flood times; it only runs at 5 - to 6 times a year, together at about 20 days. The use command comes from the Frisian provincial capital Leeuwarden. Last use was during the storm surges between 11 and 23 January 2007.

Importance

The steam pumping station Wouda formed over many years, the model for other courses in the world, a kind of standard for steam pumping stations. It has remained the largest steam pumping station and is the only one that is still in operation today.

Not only the technology, the architecture of the system in the style of expressionist Amsterdam School is considered exemplary. She puts faith to technical progress to impressive. The industrial acts like an elongated water castle, surrounded by ancient trees and reeds.

In 1998, the Wouda pumping station was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It can be visited, if luck would have it, even in use. In October 2011, a new visitor center was opened by Princess Margriet.

Swell

Natasha Albus, Michael Kaiser (ed. ): The Treasures of Europe - the magnificent cultural and natural monuments of the " Old Continent ". Verlag Wolfgang Kunth, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-89944-157-5