The pilot dike construction at the Körkwitzer Bach near Ribnitz-Damgarten, approximately 40 km north-east of Rostock, has been completed. The 500 m section of the degenerated flood protection structure was reconstructed using a cover of ripened fine-grained and moderately organic dredged material. The reconstructed dike section protects a polder area which partly lies beneath the sea water level and which is drained by a pumping station into the Körkwitzer Bach. This system had lost its function and is now working again. The principal client of the dike construction is partner 3 of the DredgDikes project, the Water and Soil Association „Untere Warnow – Küste“ in Rostock. They will also be responsible for the maintenance of the dike. The planning and construction supervision was done by WASTRA-PLAN, Rostock, together with the DredgDikes partners. The contractor was STIG-Bau GmbH, Bad Sülze. The dike is now waiting for instrumentation for future monitoring. Two sections of the dike will be instrumented with tensiometers and piezometers to monitor the infiltration of water into the dike. Along the dike axis standpipes will be installed for manual measurement of the seepage line in case of flood events. Also, precipitation and temperatures as well as the water levels of the Körkwitzer Bach and the dike-parallel drainage dench will be recorded for long-term analysis of the hydrological situation at the construction. A monitoring plan will be established among the project partners in which the tasks and responsibilities will be defined, to guarantee a high quality of monitoring and control after the lifetime of the DredgDikes project. A conclusive overview of the design and construction of the pilot dike will be included in a paper by Cantré et al. to be presented on the Gdansk conference. An initial description has been presented by Saathoff and Cantré on the Rostock conference. The PDF is available online.
Construction start November 2013
Flooding in January 2014
Frozen construction site February 2014
Construction of reinforced dike core March 2014
Construction and compaction control of cover layer April 2014
Completed pilot dike May 2014
