Rijkswaterstaat — Public Works & Water Management / Netherlands

What This Is

Seven collections from Rijkswaterstaat, the executive agency of the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management. Rijkswaterstaat manages the main waterway network, flood defenses, and national road infrastructure. The Netherlands' geography — much of it below sea level — makes water management existentially important.

These collections are grouped thematically below.

Water Management

waterkeringen/ — Primary Flood Defenses (Dike Sections)

238 primary flood defense sections (primaire waterkeringen) — the dike rings and storm surge barriers that protect the Netherlands from the sea and major rivers. Each section has a legally mandated safety standard under the Water Act (Waterwet).

• File: waterkeringen.parquet
• Key fields: wk_naam (name), wk_type (dike type), geometry (line/polygon)

bergingsgebieden/ — Flood Retention Areas

1,545 designated flood retention areas (bergingsgebieden) — locations where water can be temporarily stored during extreme high water events. Part of the national flood risk management strategy.

• File: bergingsgebieden.parquet
• Key fields: naam (name), geometry (polygon)

hectometervakken_vaargeul/ — Fairway Depth Sections

3,112 fairway depth measurement sections along the Rhine branches (Waal, Nederrijn, Lek, IJssel, Pannerdensch Kanaal). Each section covers 100 metres (one hectometre) and records guaranteed navigation depth and actual measured depth.

• File: hectometervakken_vaargeul.parquet
• Key fields: depth measurements, river identification, hectometre markers

sluizen/ — Navigation Locks

92 navigation locks (sluizen) on recreational waterways managed by Rijkswaterstaat. Includes lock dimensions (length, width), operating hours, and location.

• File: sluizen.parquet
• Key fields: naam (name), lengte (length), breedte (width), geometry (point)

Ecology

rijksviswegen_2024/ — Fish Migration Routes

2,122 fish migration route segments (rijksviswegen) showing connectivity status for fish passage. Tracks the passability of barriers (dams, weirs, locks) for migratory fish, with status assessments spanning 2009–2033. Critical for EU Water Framework Directive reporting.

• File: rijksviswegen_2024.parquet
• Key fields: connectivity status, barrier type, route segment, assessment year

Transport & Environment

fme_disk_tunnels/ — Road Tunnels

25 road tunnels managed by Rijkswaterstaat, including their locations and basic attributes.

• File: fme_disk_tunnels.parquet
• Key fields: tunnel name, geometry (point/line)

zero_emissiezones/ — Zero Emission Zones

42 low-emission zones (zero-emissiezones, ZES) and low-emission zones for logistics (LEZ) in Dutch cities. These zones restrict access for polluting vehicles — passenger cars, delivery vans, or trucks depending on the zone type. Part of the national Clean Air Agreement.

• File: zero_emissiezones.parquet
• Key fields: zone name, municipality, zone type, geometry (polygon)

Coordinate System

All Rijkswaterstaat collections use EPSG:28992 (Amersfoort / RD New) — coordinates in metres. Convert to WGS84 with:

Data Source

Most of these collections were downloaded from Rijkswaterstaat's public ArcGIS Feature Services at https://services-eu1.arcgis.com/4D1GBrbE6xp1T4YG/arcgis/rest/services/ and converted to GeoParquet and PMTiles for cloud-native access. The original Feature Services remain the authoritative source and may be updated more frequently.

License

Some collections are CC0 or CC-BY-4.0. Several list "proprietary" in metadata but are sourced from publicly accessible Rijkswaterstaat ArcGIS Feature Services.

Example Queries

List all primary flood defense sections

Count zero emission zones by municipality

List navigation locks

Count flood retention areas

Fish migration routes overview

Cross-Collection Analysis Ideas

• Flood protection inventory: Combine waterkeringen (dike sections) with bergingsgebieden (retention areas) for a complete picture of flood risk management
• Urban environment: Overlay zero_emissiezones with administrative boundaries to see which municipalities have emission restrictions
• Inland waterway network: Combine sluizen (locks), hectometervakken_vaargeul (fairway depths), and rijksviswegen (fish migration) for a comprehensive view of Dutch waterway infrastructure and ecology

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Hand-maintained agent guide (ported from this collection's llms.txt in August 2026). Update it alongside collection.json.