The Twentekanaal () is a

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface ...

running through the Dutch 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

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 ...

, connecting the three largest cities of the

Twente Twente ( , Tweants dialect: ''Tweante'') is a region in the eastern Netherlands. It encompasses the most urbanised and easternmost part of the province of Overijssel. Twente is most likely named after the Tuihanti or Tvihanti, a Germanic people ...

region,

Almelo Almelo () is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a city in the eastern Netherlands. The main population centres in the town are Aadorp, Almelo, Mariaparochie, and Bornerbroek. Almelo has about 72,000 inhabitants in the middle o ...

Hengelo Hengelo (; Tweants dialect, Tweants: ) is a city in the eastern part of the Netherlands, in the Twente region, in the province of Overijssel. It is part of a larger urban area that also includes Enschede, Borne, Overijssel, Borne, Almelo and Ol ...

and

Enschede Enschede (; local ) is a list of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the province of Overijssel and the Twente region of the eastern Netherlands. The east of the urban area reaches ...

to the national network of

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 ...

s and canals. Because the canal forks to reach Almelo, the canal is officially plural, which is Twentekanalen. The Twentekanaal starts at the

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 ...

North of

Zutphen Zutphen () is a city and municipality located in the province of Gelderland, Netherlands. It lies some northeast of Arnhem, on the eastern bank of the river IJssel at the point where it is joined by the Berkel. First mentioned in the 11th centur ...

at the village of Eefde and runs through Almen, Lochem, Goor, Delden and

. West of Delden, a fork of the canal runs to

. Both canals (Zutphen - Enschede and the fork Delden - Almelo) are managed by

Rijkswaterstaat Rijkswaterstaat, founded in 1798 as the ''Bureau voor den Waterstaat'' and formerly translated to Directorate General for Public Works and Water Management, is a Directorate-General of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, Ministry ...

(the Dutch government body responsible for waterways). The part of the canal Eefde - Delden is 33 kilometres long, the fork Delden - Almelo is 15 kilometres long and the parts of the canal Delden - Hengelo and Hengelo - Enschede are subsequently 9 and 5 kilometres long. The total length of the canal is 65 kilometres.

History

Although the first plan for a canal to Twente dates back to the middle of the 19th century, construction did not start until 1930, after a quarrel of nearly a quarter of a century about eight subjects. The canal was constructed to secure a better supply of raw materials for the

textile industry The textile industry is primarily concerned with the design, production and distribution of textiles: yarn, cloth and clothing. Industry process Cotton manufacturing Cotton is the world's most important natural fibre. In the year 2007, th ...

(rough cotton) and for the supply of

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

from the mines in Limburg. Most of the canal was constructed as a job project for unemployed workers during the crisis. The canal was largely dug by hand. In 1938 the canal was completed. In 1953 the canal was extended and the fork was constructed, connecting the harbour of Almelo and the Kanaal Almelo-De Haandrik to the Twentekanaal. Until 2003 the channel water was pumped into the ground and filtered by sand and gravel; the drinking water produced this way provided 80% of the drinking water needs of Enschede. Due to a large fire at Vredestein in Enschede the channel section was closed for weeks to prevent spreading pollution. Research by water company Vitens in February 2008 showed that the water from the Twentekanaal is no longer safe to drink. The Twentekanaal has been widened and deepened from a CEMT-class IV to a CEMT-class Va waterway between 2004 and 2007. This means that a big Rhine ship (max. 11.50 wide, a draught of 2.70 and a length of 110 metres) can use the canal. The depth of the fairway is specified at 5 meter, however the threshold depth at the all locks is specified at 3,75 meter below channel level. Simultaneously with the excavation to a greater depth, the canal was also widened locally. So between Goor and Delden width increases from 40 to 51 meters. Herewith so-called 'natural banks' were also immediately constructed. This offers, for example, water hit deer a possibility to leave the canal. There are also suitable spawning grounds for fish. The sand that was excavated was reused directly by Rijkswaterstaat in the construction of a new section of motorway in Almelo, and boulders founded in the widening surfaced were used again in the construction of the bottom and banks. A study related to the history of the canal speaks of "a success out of a failure": (1984) ''De Twenthekanalen; succes van een mislukking''. Zutphen: Terra. the economic development as a result of the construction of the canal has been a disappointment, but the canal has had a huge impact on water management.

Current function

Nowadays the canal is used for the transport of

sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is usually defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural ...

gravel Gravel () is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally on Earth as a result of sedimentation, sedimentary and erosion, erosive geological processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone. Gr ...

salt In common usage, salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl). When used in food, especially in granulated form, it is more formally called table salt. In the form of a natural crystalline mineral, salt is also known as r ...

and cattle food. In 1996 432,277 ton was loaded and unloaded in Enschede and in 2,322,270 ton in Hengelo. Furthermore, the canal has a recreational function for both sailing and fishing,

drainage Drainage is the natural or artificial removal of a surface's water and sub-surface water from an area with excess water. The internal drainage of most agricultural soils can prevent severe waterlogging (anaerobic conditions that harm root gro ...

and the

drinking water Drinking water or potable water is water that is safe for ingestion, either when drunk directly in liquid form or consumed indirectly through food preparation. It is often (but not always) supplied through taps, in which case it is also calle ...

supply of Enschede. The drinking water is produced by pumping the water out of the canal at Lonnekerbrug. For the draining purposes of all the streams connected to the canal, the

Pumping station Pumping stations, also called pumphouses, are public utility buildings containing pumps and equipment for pumping fluids from one place to another. They are critical in a variety of infrastructure systems, such as water supply, Land reclamation, ...

in Delden and Eefde are capable of pumping the water out of the canal. The canal is capable of handling 190,000 litres of water per second. On the part of the canal from Hengelo to Enschede much training of

professional rowers A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and ski ...

takes place. As a result of a few serious accidents between

Cargo ship A cargo ship or freighter is a merchant ship that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's List of seas, seas and Ocean, oceans each year, handling the bulk of international trade. ...

s and

skiff A skiff is any of a variety of essentially unrelated styles of small boats, usually propelled by sails or oars. Traditionally, these are coastal craft or river craft used for work, leisure, as a utility craft, and for fishing, and have a one-pers ...

s a learning and exchange project was started to generate mutual respect and understanding between these two groups. For the professional shipping, all locks have been equipped with warning signs to remind them of the recreational shipping, while the rowers were invited to take a look at the bridge of a cargo ship and experience the controls of these ships. There are plans to connect the channel to the

Mittelland Canal The Mittelland Canal, also known as the Midland Canal, (, ) is a major canal in central Germany. It forms an important link in the waterway network of the country, providing the principal east-west inland waterway connection. Its significanc ...

to shorten the connection from the

Port of Rotterdam The Port of Rotterdam is the largest seaport in Europe, and the world's largest seaport outside of Asia, located in and near the city of Rotterdam, in the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. From 1962 until 2004, it was the List of bus ...

towards northern Germany.Euregio: „Verbindung zwischen Mittellandkanal und Twentekanal nicht wirtschaftlich“. Stand: 2013. http://www.euregio.eu/de/pressemitteilungen/verbindung-zwischen-mittellandkanal-und-twentekanal-nicht-wirtschaftlich (retrieved on 2 October 2014).

Locks

The total height difference between Zutphen and Enschede is 21 metres. To bridge this difference, the Twentekanaal has three locks. The lock at Eefde bridges approximately 6 meters, depending on the water level in the IJssel. The lock at Delden also bridges 6 meters and the lock at Hengelo 9 meters. There are no locks in the fork to Almelo. Because the locks have to bridge a lot, much water is wasted. To compensate this, every lock has a

Characteristics

*Length = 65 km *Shipping class = Va (until 2007: IV) *Year operational = 1938 (connected to Almelo harbor in 1953) *Runs from

to the river

*Runs through the provinces of

and

The Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

References

{{reflist Canals in the Netherlands Canals opened in 1938 Canals in Gelderland Canals in Overijssel Twente