Welcome to the second edition of DFSI Magazine. The focus of the first issue addressed the principles of sustainability and their implications for dredging projects. In this second edition, we will discuss “how” to integrate sustainable aspects in more detail.

Dredging projects are needed for the maintenance of water systems, which are often heavily modified to optimise the ecosystem services they provide to society. Water systems are therefore important assets, however, making use of them inevitably also raises pressures on the ecosystem. As humans, we are dependent on the services that water systems provide and it is essential that (asset) management ensures that the use of ecosystem services is sustainable.

There lies the challenge for water managers. And since I started my career at Rijkswaterstaat (Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment), it is a challenge that has kept me busy. Something I did not expect when, as a student of physical geography in 1986, our professor told us that we would never find a job. In those days, unemployment was high and nobody would be interested in our knowledge he said. I’m happy to say he was wrong.

Over time, policies and regulations were put in place to protect aspects of the environment and it became a legal requirement to integrate certain environmental aspects into decision making. It also raised a need for the expertise that I and my fellow students had gained, along with other fields of expertise. For combining expertise from different specialties results in better, more integral projects.

Besides the positive effect of regulations, they can also impede the process. Regulations aimed at certain interests, for example, quality of water, soil, air and nature, will often prescribe boundary constraints for engineering and activities such as dredging. This can make undertaking projects impossible. Such a scenario does not help make our water systems resilient – executing well- designed dredging projects does. Policy makers and engineers need to work closely together to prevent regulations from making solutions impossible.

Today, the quest for sustainability is a topic for heavy political debate, but for me it is a driver for improving the quality of design and execution of dredging projects. Integrating different fields of knowledge is key and can only be done in good collaboration. Dogmatic advocation of sectoral interests should be avoided because an integral solution is not the same as the sum of sectoral interests. Choices must be made in weighing interests. Only then can the planning process result in tailor-made solutions that will best fit the needs of our water management ambitions.

Within this issue you will find articles on a host of projects from around the globe that I trust will inspire and demonstrate how we can plan and design together – in and with nature – to create sustainable infrastructure.