The beauty of engineering

Today I am posting a bird's eye view of one of the bridges we pass when we bring our boat to her winter berth. There is a reason I chose this particular bridge for my drawing. At the west side of the bridge, there is a lake with a number of small islands in it. Perfect for a spectacular sunset scene like the one I have drawn. But that's not the only reason. Next to the bridge, there is a really cool piece of engineering.

Those little 'sea shells' you see actually are a storm surge barrier. The Ramspol Balgstuw dam is really one of a kind: it's inflatable! It is the biggest dam of its type in the world. And it is the only inflatable dam that is meant to serve as a storm surge barrier. In the event of a storm, its three balloons fill up with 3,5 million liters of air and another 3,5 million liters of water. This creates a temporary dam, protecting the villages and cities on the east side of the dam from the water masses at the west side.

When I am sailing on some peaceful lake or river, surrounded by nature, listening to the sounds of birds, I often forget that it is a piece of engineering I am sailing on. Our rivers and lakes aren’t 'natural' at all. Water here is carefully monitored, managed and adjusted, if necessary. A hugely complex system of locks, dams, canals and pumping stations keeps everything in check.

That's not a bad thing. Its the only option we have. If we would let the water find its own way, it would turn into an unpredictable and violent enemy again. It could take hundreds or thousand lives in a single flood. Pieces of engineering like this dam enable us to peacefully co-exist with the water, the water that gives us so much joy.

So for me, structures like the Balgstuw are part of the beauty of our lands and waters. I thought it deserved its own drawing.

More about the Balgstuw. If you want to see it in action, you don’t have to wait for a storm. Each year, on the first Tuesday of September, the dam is tested by inflating it.