The Ketelmeer is the tongue of the IJsselmeer into which the River

IJssel The IJssel (; ) is a Dutch distributary of the river Rhine that flows northward and ultimately discharges into the IJsselmeer (before the 1932 completion of the Afsluitdijk known as the Zuiderzee), a North Sea natural harbour. It more immediatel ...

drains, it is situated between the

polder A polder () is a low-lying tract of land that forms an artificial hydrology, hydrological entity, enclosed by embankments known as levee, dikes. The three types of polder are: # Land reclamation, Land reclaimed from a body of water, such as a ...

s Noordoostpolder (North-east Polder) and Oostelijk Flevoland (East Flevoland), and connects the

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

to the IJsselmeer. It is one of the bordering lakes, a continuous body of water which separate Flevoland from the Noordostpolder and the ancient lands of the provinces of

Gelderland Gelderland ( , ), also known as Guelders ( ) in English, is a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands, located in the centre-east of the country. With a total area of of which is water, it is the largest province of the Nethe ...

and

Utrecht Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...

. The Ketelmeer covers an area of 3500 hectares, most of which is in the province of

Flevoland Flevoland () is the twelfth and newest province of the Netherlands, established in 1986, when the southern and eastern Flevopolders, together with the Noordoostpolder, were merged into one provincial entity. It is in the centre of the countr ...

, but the

river delta A river delta is a landform, archetypically triangular, created by the deposition of the sediments that are carried by the waters of a river, where the river merges with a body of slow-moving water or with a body of stagnant water. The creat ...

of the IJssel is in province of

Overijssel Overijssel (; ; ; ) is a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands located in the eastern part of the country. The province's name comes from the perspective of the Prince-Bishopric of Utrecht, Episcopal principality of Utrecht ...

. It was carved out from the Zuiderzee by the construction of the

s of Noordoostpolder and

, between which it lies. It is via Ketelmeer that the IJsselmeer connects to the Zwarte Meer and the Veluwemeer, the strip of water which separates

from the coast of the mainland. The Ketelmeer borders two '' buurtschappen'', on the opposite sides of the lake: Ketelhaven on the south and Schokkerhaven on the north, both located roughly halfway the lake, though Ketelhaven is still located about one

kilometer The kilometre ( SI symbol: km; or ), spelt kilometer in American and Philippine English, is a unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), equal to one thousand metres (kilo- being the SI prefix for ). It is the preferred mea ...

further to the east. Ketelhaven also has significantly more inhabitants. The Ketelmeer contains the IJsseloog, a kilometre-diameter circular pit in an artificial island, built to contain the toxic sludge dredged from the bed of the Ketelmeer. The Ketelbrug is a

bascule bridge A bascule bridge (also referred to as a drawbridge or a lifting bridge) is a moveable bridge with a counterweight that continuously balances a span, or leaf, throughout its upward swing to provide clearance for boat traffic. It may be single- o ...

over the Ketelmeer connecting the Noordoostpolder and Oostelijk Flevoland.

References

Lakes of the Netherlands Landforms of Flevoland Landforms of Overijssel Dronten Kampen, Overijssel Noordoostpolder Ramsar sites in the Netherlands {{Flevoland-geo-stub