Water heritage

Protection of water heritage Introduction The water board has dozens of properties from the 19th and 20th centuries such as locks, mills and mills. These objects, in addition to their function for water management, are also valuable from a cultural-historical point of view. Hunze and Aa’s wants to actively contribute to the conservation of this water heritage in the implementation of the water management. The emphasis is on objects that have a clear function for water management. Inventory and valuation The monument advisory organisations in Drenthe and Groningen, Libau and Drents Plateau, have mapped out all cultural-historical water board objects. In total, there are about 60 objects, of which 17 are national monuments. Each object is rated and classified in a category high, medium or low. Among other things, the valuation looked at civil engineering, cultural-historical and image-determining values. Protection The conservation care provided by the water board is linked to the category classification. For example, if a lock in the category falls high, this means that the existing image characteristics are retained. If a lock falls into the product category, existing figurative characteristics can be changed without affecting its essence. Objects in the category layer can easily be modified and renewed, for example by modernising a lock also in terms of appearance. For historical objects without a water board function, a maximum of one specimen is kept in tact, unless they are monuments. These kinds of objects are always protected. The concern of the water board is not so far as objects – of which (historical) parts are missing – are restored to their original state. Of course, the water board has an eye for special objects that currently do not belong to the water heritage. This applies, for example, to objects that are still relatively young but have a high (potential) cultural historical value. The water board strives to keep these values in tact as much as possible.