Waters of the Rhine

Redondo Beach on November 2, 2014

Walking to Smart & Final this morning in shorts and tee shirt to restock perishables like eggs, cole slaw, tortillas and chicken breasts, I found renewed appreciation for our wonderful Southern California climate. 

The last couple of weeks along the Rhine and Moselle Rivers rarely saw temperatures move much above 15 degrees Celsius (about 59 degrees Fahrenheit), with a few days considerably colder.  Not that we're complaining.  After all, we experienced no rain despite traveling in Golden October, when at least some rain should be expected.  In fact, earlier in the month heavy rains accelerated the harvest of the grapes before they all burst open with juice. 



Golden October at Rudesheim am Rhein

Interestingly, when the Romans arrived over 2,000 years ago and founded cities on sites along the Rhine and Moselle that had previously been sparsely populated by Celts, the region had a Mediterranean climate more like Redondo Beach than what it has today.

After 500 years of Roman rule, a decline in average temperatures as the result of cyclical climate change seems to have contributed to some extent to the fall of the Roman Empire, which I would assume unfairly received blame for decreased prosperity including food shortages that would accompany abbreviated growing seasons.

Roman Gate in Trier, Germany

The Germanic "barbarians" probably came down from the north trying to get somewhere a bit warmer themselves.  Most likely, they saw the Romans living in relative splendor beyond their walls and wanted that for themselves without accepting Empire rule. 

Unfortunately, when Germanic people drove out the Romans and took over great cities like Trier and Cologne, they had no idea how to maintain the advanced infrastructures of civilization they found, including plumbing and sewage systems.

The concrete Eifel Aqueduct carried fresh mountain water gradually down hill for 59 miles, with much of its route underground to prevent freezing in winter, in order to provide fresh water to Colonia Claudia Ara Aggrippinensium (modern day Cologne, or as the Germans write it, Köln). 

Because the Romans used the Rhine River to flush away sewage, this distant source of fresh water was essential to city life. 

Fortress of Luxembourg ruins

While that engineering feat in the first century after Jesus was born is certainly impressive in its own right, further consider that the Romans carried on construction on different segments simultaneously so that they all lined up perfectly to complete the project, using tools of their day, faster than modern America seems capable of adding a an extra lane for a few miles on the 405 freeway.  As our guide said, the Roman soldiers, who provided much of the labor, needed to have something to do between battles.

The barbarians chose to use the Eifel Aqueduct,  a true wonder of the world in its day, as a quarry for building materials, reducing it to rubble while probably not undertanding the seemingly obvious long term consequences of their actions.  The quality of  city life in post-Roman Cologne deteriorated rapidly. 

Strasbourg Cathedral in France

The sad history of superstitious primatives destroying what they don't understand continues to this day, but human beings can be as resourceful as they sometimes may be destructive, and so, for example, despite the fact that in World War II, 90% of Cologne was destroyed by allied bombing and the small country of Luxembourg became a huge battleground for the deciding battles of that war, they have been rebuilt and teem with prosperous residents again.

To a great extent, the resilience of the Rhine and connecting Moselle regions is predictable, because water has always been a key to prosperity and civilization, and the Rhine is one of the great waterways of the world.  The history of Western Civilization actually began as a result of the water needs of people whose livelihood depended on access to clean river water necessitating cooperation with other tribes who had their own household needs for water to drink, cook and cleanse, not to mention regional public requirements for transportation and irrigation.

Holland Windmills used to pump water and power factories

In the Netherlands, the connection to the water is certainly just as significant but distinctly different.  As children, we heard stories of the little Dutch boy who put his finger in the dyke to save the village.  The parable teaches children that if they take action immediately using whatever limited resources are at their disposal, they can stave off disaster until more help arrives.

The Dutch have too much water, and a billion dollars a year goes toward draining land, redirecting the water into canals and maintaining dykes to keep ocean water from flooding their lowlands.  In response to flood disasters that lashed the Netherlands in 1916, they began a series of projects that eventually converted the Zydenzee, a 1900 square mile inland sea, into two large freshwater lakes plus 580 square miles of bucolic farmland criss-crossed by canals.  In 1986, the reclaimed land became Flevoland, the 12th province of the Netherlands, and it is now home to about 400,000 residents.


Marken from ferry on the fresh water Markermeer

We visited the fishing villages of Volendam and Marken along the banks of the smaller of the two lakes, the 270 square mile Markermeer.  Marken, from which the lake got its name, used to be an island but is now the tip of a peninsula connected to North Holland by causeway. 

I can't imagine today's California legislature taking on a project so daring to make more farmlands and fresh water available for humans.  More likely it would be tied up forever in environmental impact studies and law suits.  Although if a smelt or stink bug might be injured, they'd be on it no matter what the cost.