Crisis management

We work daily to ensure water safety in North Holland. But despite all the precautions we take and the high safety standards we apply, unfortunately, emergencies can never be completely ruled out.

Crisis management organization

In order to respond adequately to emergency situations, such as extreme flooding caused by heavy and persistent rainfall, severe contamination of surface water due to an accident, or a dike breach during a storm, we have a crisis management organization in place. Additional manpower, machinery, and equipment are on standby if the situation requires it.

Prepared for emergencies

Our employees are prepared for natural disasters, accidents, and other emergencies and are ready to assist you when needed. We maintain the knowledge and experience of our people through instructional meetings, education, training, and exercises. We work closely with other agencies and governments in this regard.

Types of emergencies

We manage flood defenses and ensure water quantity, water quality, and (navigable) waterways. Disasters can occur in the course of performing these tasks. See the page Types of disasters.

How do I report emergencies?

You can report emergencies to us 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by calling 0800-1430. If necessary, we will call in the crisis management organization.

programme In The Genes (CING) programme

The climate is changing, extreme weather conditions are becoming more intense and more frequent. Our systems are insufficiently prepared for this, which means that (imminent) nuisance situations will occur more often. Sometimes with a major impact and resulting in social disruption. Even then, we will have to continue fulfil our core tasks as well as possible fulfil minimize social nuisance and disruption. This will often be in collaboration with fellow crisis partners such as the Safety Regions.

The programme focuses on strengthening our crisis management organization so that we have adequate information and a well-equipped crisis organization that is able to act quickly and effectively during (impending) crisis situations. The administrative assignment was given in January 2022.

The immediate cause was the flooding in June 2021 and the recommendations formulated in the evaluation of the response to it.

Technically, these recommendations concern:

strengthening the crisis resilience of the water system;
improvement of 24/7 information provision regarding the expected impact of extreme weather;
strategy development to effectively limit the negative impact of extremes during crises and to communicate the approach clearly to residents.

CING works from the outside in, which means that we start in the area and, based on the knowledge and experience gained there, address the above points, making use of the conceptual and water system knowledge available at the office.

The central product we are working towards, both technically and organizationally, is the new emergency response plans that are to be developed.

Theprogramme implemented by HHNK in collaboration with knowledge centers and various market parties.