Zeevang pumping station

In the open countryside just north of Purmerend on Zeevangsdijkje, you will find the Zeevang pumping station, a provincial monument, with the old engineer's house next to it. Both were built at the end of the 19th century on behalf of the Zeevang polder board. 

Drainage of the Zeevang polder 

The pumping station is located on the south side of the Zeevang polder. In the polder, a large peat area covering more than 3,200 hectares, the old plot structure has remained largely intact to this day. Due to the steady subsidence of the area, the meadows were increasingly flooded. At the end of the 15th century, the solution to this problem was the construction of polder mills. A screw pump mill stood on the site of the pumping station, which drained into the Purmerringvaart canal via the mill ditch (still present today). 

Steam drainage became available in the mid-19th century. In 1872, the De IJzeren Man steam pumping station was built on the north side of Edam. It was equipped with a single screw pump and had a capacity of 75 cubic meters per minute. However, the drainage provided by the polder mills and this pumping station soon proved inadequate to meet the ever-increasing demands of agriculture. 

Zeevang pumping station

Engineer P. de Leeuw of the Hoogheemraadschap van de Uitwaterende Sluizen (Water Board of the Drainage Locks) played an important role in the plans for a second pumping station, the Zeevang pumping station. It was built in 1879 along the Purmerringvaart between Kwadijk and Axwijk on the site of a mill and was equipped with two horizontal steam engines that metre two wooden screws with a diameter of 2 metre . The pumping station had a capacity of 150 cubic meters per minute. The engines were supplied by Machinebau Actiën Gesellschaft in Hanover and the contractor for the building was C. Blankevoort from Monnickendam. 

The entire complex consists of a machine building with front and rear waterways. On the west side is the former engineer's house and on the east side a building that housed the Zeevang polder board. A chimney and coal shed were located on the northwest side. An iron signal mast for the Schermerboezem drainage system stood at the water's edge. If the water in the reservoir threatened to rise too high, a blue flag on the mast indicated that pumping had been stopped. At night, a light was used. The signaling system was discontinued on January 1, 1981, and the mast was subsequently removed. 

Modernization

The coal consumption of the pumping stations at Edam and Kwadijk was very high. In 1916, it was proposed to build a single electric pumping station with a capacity of 240 cubic meters per minute. A year later, the steam drive of the Zeevang pumping station was replaced by N.V. Visser’s Landbouwkantoor in Amsterdam. This company supplied two horizontal screw pumps, known as Wood pumps, driven by electric motors of 150 and 120 hp respectively. The management of the entire project was entrusted to the Amsterdam engineering firm W.C. en K. de Wit. The IJzeren Man pumping station then became redundant and was demolished in 1917.

The outdated electric motors were replaced with new ones in 1956. In 2015, one of the pumps failed. The damage was extensive, leading to the modernization of both pumps, which were immediately made fish-friendly. At the same time, the electric motors were replaced again.

The interior of the pumping station now consists of two parts. On the left is the former boiler room, which is used as a storage room and workshop. The right-hand side contains the machine room and entrance, with the original workshop on the left and the transformer room on the right. The entrance and machine room have wooden mirrored ceilings. 

Flooding in the Zeevang Polder

Polder Zeevang played a role in the water management system of the Defense Line of Amsterdam. The Defense Line is a circular military defense line with a radius of fifteen to twenty kilometre Amsterdam, consisting of forts, batteries, ammunition depots, and floodgates. 

Via the Zeesluis in Edam, water from the Zuiderzee could be let into the De Zeevang polder (flooding) through the Pompsluis in Edam and the Purmerringvaart. The water level was regulated so that it was too shallow to sail safely, but just deep enough to walk and drive. The inundation took place twice. The first time, in May 1940, this was done by the Dutch army. The pumping station was shut down and the Pompsluis opened. Within a few days, the polder was completely flooded. After the capitulation on May 15, the pumping station ran at full capacity for weeks to drain the Zeevang. 

The second time was in March 1944, when the German occupiers flooded the polder to prevent Allied airborne landings. This time, the polder remained under water for over a year. After liberation, it took just under a month for the pumping station to drain the polder again.

Extra

• Zeevang Polder (Natura 2000)

Hiking

• Waterline Path Stage 01 (Wandelnet)

Cycling

• The Zeevang Route (Low Holland)

• History and water heritage in Purmer-Noord (Laag Holland)