The Brielse Maas is a dammed river branch between the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

and the

Oude Maas The Oude Maas (; ) is a distributary of the river Rhine, and a former distributary of the river Maas, in the Dutch province of South Holland. It begins at the city of Dordrecht where the Beneden Merwede river splits into the Noord and the O ...

in the southern part of the

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

province of

South Holland South Holland ( ) is a province of the Netherlands with a population of over 3.8 million as of January 2023 and a population density of about , making it the country's most populous province and one of the world's most densely populated areas. ...

. The town of

Brielle Brielle (), also called Den Briel in Dutch and Brill in English, is a town and historic seaport in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland, on the north side of the island of Voorne-Putten, at the mouth of the New Maas. The for ...

, which gave it its name, is located on the south bank. Originally the Brielse Maas was part of the

Nieuwe Maas The Nieuwe Maas (; "New Meuse") is a distributary of the Rhine River, and a former distributary of the Meuse (river), Maas River, in the Netherlands, Dutch Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland. It runs from the confluence of th ...

: at the Vondelingenplaat the Oude Maas and the Nieuwe Maas came together and split into the Brielse Maas and the

Scheur The Scheur (; Dutch for "The Rip") is a branch of the Rhine-Meuse delta in South Holland, Netherlands, that flows west from the confluence of the Oude Maas and Nieuwe Maas branches past the towns of Rozenburg and Maassluis. It continues as the N ...

. The Brielse Maas was the main

shipping channel In physical geography and hydrology, a channel is a landform on which a relatively narrow body of water is situated, such as a river, river delta or strait. While ''channel'' typically refers to a natural formation, the cognate term ''canal'' de ...

and mouth of the Rijn-Maas delta.

History

The damming of the Brielse Maas was part of an extensive plan to make the islands of

Rozenburg Rozenburg () is a town and former municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The municipality had a population of 13,173 in 2004, and covers an area of 6.50 km2 (of which 1.99 km2 water). It was the se ...

Voorne-Putten Voorne-Putten () is an island between the North Sea, the Brielse Meer and the rivers Oude Maas, Spui and Haringvliet in the province of South Holland. Voorne-Putten consists of the two former islands Voorne (the larger, western part) and Pu ...

and Welplaat into one

water management Water resources are natural resources of water that are potentially useful for humans, for example as a source of drinking water supply or irrigation water. These resources can be either freshwater from natural sources, or water produced artificia ...

unit. This was necessary because of the harmful effects of the increased salinization of fresh water. The works also consisted of a dam in the

Botlek image.html" ;"title="image.html" ;"title="Satellite image">Satellite image of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta">Rhine–Meuse delta showing the Botlek (r). Botlek is an industrial port area of Rotterdam, the Netherlands. It specialises in pet ...

, a canal through the Hartel area and a system of fencing, drainage and inlet locks. In 1949, the construction of the Brielse Maasdam near the mouth of the river, was started. The work began over the wide salt marsh on the south side of the island of Rozenburg. In 1950, the dam was extended into the river channel, itself, with 75 small caissons. Eventually, a sixty-meter wide closing hole remained, which was closed with a Phoenix caisson in July 1950. The dam through the Botlek at the east end of the river was also closed in June 1950 with the help of small caissons.

Current day

The water in between was since then called

Brielse Meer The Brielse Meer ("Lake Den Briel") is a long, narrow lake between the Dutch estuary islands of Voorne and Rozenburg in the province of South Holland. The lake takes its name from Den Briel, a town on its shore. It was formerly a branch of the ...

and is now a large freshwater basin and recreational area for

Rijnmond Rijnmond (; literally 'Rhine Mouth', 'Mouth of the Rhine', 'Rhine Estuary') is the conurbation surrounding the city of Rotterdam in the Netherlands. Another term used in this context is Stadsregio Rotterdam (literally 'Rotterdam Urban Region' or m ...

and the surrounding area. The lake is connected to the Oude Maas via locks at

Spijkenisse Spijkenisse () is a large town in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, Netherlands. Following an administrative reform in 2015, it is part of the List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of Nissewaard, and ha ...

via the Shipping and Feeding Canal (Dutch: ''Scheepvaart- en Voedingskanaal''). Freshwater from the

Spui A single-point urban interchange (SPUI, or ), also called a single-point interchange (SPI) or single-point diamond interchange (SPDI), is a type of highway interchange. The design was created in order to help move large volumes of traffic t ...

can be let in via the

Bernisse Bernisse () is a village and former municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. Since 2015 it has been a part of the municipality of Nissewaard. The former municipality had a population of in , and covered an area ...

. It is also connected to the

Haringvliet The Haringvliet is a large inlet of the North Sea, in the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. It is an important estuary of the Rhine-Meuse delta. Near Numansdorp, the Hollands Diep splits into the Haringvliet and the Volkerak est ...

via the Voorne Canal.

References

{{coord missing, Netherlands Geography of Rotterdam Rivers of South Holland Rivers of the Netherlands