Nieuwe Merwede

The Nieuwe Merwede is a 1861-1874 manmade section of the southern and hydrologically most powerful Rhine estuary arm in the Netherlands.

Location and characteristics of

The left and by far the largest tributary of the Rhine, the Waal is called from the former confluence of the Meuse Boven Merwede ( "Upper Merwede "). The current bifurcates at Werkendam in the outgoing to the right Beneden Merwede ( "Lower Merwede " ) and the broadest Nieuwe Merwede. She goes 18.2 kilometers at the confluence of the Meuse new run ( Bergsche Maas, called in the lowest part Amer ) in the Hollands Diep over and this in turn. In the lake-like Haring Vliet, which flows through the locks of the Haringvliet dam in the North Sea The width of the Nieuwe Merwede moves 325-695 meters, and its water channel has a depth of 3.7 to 5.3 meters. In the mouth angle to the Amer is the protected wetlands of the Biesbosch. The Nieuwe Merwede forms the border between South Holland and North Brabant. In Dubbeldam on the island of Dordrecht is a ferry to the south shore.

Hydrological aspects

Before installation of the New Merwede the Upper Merwede branched into numerous small arms, some of which united with the river Meuse. This variety of channels and sandbanks braked at high water the effluent and reduced the power to transport the entrained sediment. This far inland lying active delta area was created with the gradual shift of the Rhine estuary arms to the southwest into the former Meuse estuary (see also: the Rhine-Meuse delta). The Nieuwe Merwede can dissipate the water masses much more quickly.

Although the Nieuwe Merwede is the most voluminous mouth of the river Waal and the Rhine, but not the most important shipping lane; this runs the Beneden Merwede, the North, the Nieuwe Maas and the New Waterway to the North Sea. The water management by means of barrages policy is to promote runoff in the New Waterway of 1,500 m³ / s, which corresponds to about two -thirds of the average water flow ( MQ ) of the Rhine at Emmerich. Any further outflows are discharged via the Nieuwe Merwede with their higher order multiples capacity, ie mainly the peak discharges. Conversely, the outflow of the Nieuwe Merwede go to zero as the Rhine carries little water. Decreases the Rhine Lobith near the German border less than 1100 m³ / s, the locks are closed on Haringvlietdam, and the combined outflows of Merwede and Maas are urged by these backwater through various waterways of the Rhine Delta to the north ( for example, the Dordtsche Kil ), where it finally reached and reinforces the New Waterway. Depending on the hydrograph of each year so can the Beneden Merwede have the larger mean outflow or the Nieuwe Merwede, the 44 % of the entire Rhine flow led away at least before the construction of the Haringvliet dam compared to 23 % of the Beneden Merwede. Compared to the average water supply of the Nieuwe Merwede of around 600 to 900 m³ / s at the bottom of the inflowing Maas is far less important: it leads according to several sources 330-350 m³ / s