ZUIDER ZEE.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 19851, 12 February 1930, Page 11

ZUIDER ZEE.

RECLAMATION WORK. GIANT PUMPING TASK. (WITED ruESS ASSOCIATION—B? BLECTKIO TBLKOaAPH—COPYBIOHT.) (Received February 11th, 7.40 p.m.) . THE HAGUE, February 11. The first stage of the herculean task of pumping out the Zuider Zee was initiated when the Minister for Public Works (Dr. H. van der Vegte) started the pumps to drain a small section near the island of Wieringen, which forms one barrier against the yea, while a new dyke reinforces the old barrier which was swept in tho original inundation. The area which is to be drained includes eighty acres of rich agricultural land. Pumping stations?, working day and night, are expected to clear this' in eight months, reducing the water level by less than half an inch in every 24 hours. Even when the area is clear the stations must continue in order to keep down the water. The originator of tho scheme is ex Minister Lely, 'who started a campaign to drain tho Zuider Zee in 1886. He died two years ago. One of the pumping stations has been given Lely's name. [The Zuider Zee is the large gulr penetrating deep into the Netherlands, about 80 miles in length and 210 in circumference, and with a total area of 2027 square miles. The greatest width is 34 miles, but a strait of about 10 miles separates the inner and outer portions of the Zuider Zee. The average depth is about 12 feet, but while some of the sea channels are over 30 feet there are considerable portions not deeper than three. A chain of inlands from the most northern point of Holland are the remains of the former line of coast. In 1282 the sandbarrier was broken, and the water, flowing over the low land, separated the province of Friesland from the peninsula of North Holland, and having united with the small inner lake Mevo formed the present Zuider Zee. Two deep sea-canals have been cut in tho area, the North Bca Canal leading to the drainage of 12,000 acres of rich land on either bank of the Y, a southwest arm of the Zuider Zee, while a huge dam with fivo locks was thrown over the eastern mouth of tho Y. The scheme for draining the Zuider Zee (referred to in the cable message), recommended first in 1801, was finally sanctioned by Parliament in 1918. The dam between North Holland and the island of Wieringen has been finished and that between Wieringen and Horl.'ngen in Friesland begun. This dam, about 20 miles long, is to carry both a railway and a roadway. It is proposed thus to make four holders by reclaiming some 550,000 acres (which would be more than ten feet below sen-level) and to create a freshwater lake, Lake Tessel, of some 280,000 acres. Compensation will be given to fishermen, but the Government will recoup itself by leasing out the reclaimed land, which being very fertile soil will accommodate 300,000 people. It is estimated that the 'works will be completed in 1934.]