Willem Johan van Blommestein

Willem Johan van Blommestein [ ˈʋiləm jɔˈɦɑn fɑn ˈblɔməstɛin ] (born  May 15, 1905 in Surakarta on Java , Dutch East Indies ; †  August 11, 1985 in Eemnes , Netherlands ) was a Dutch hydraulic engineer who worked on many projects: for the FAO in Sumatra, Thailand (damming of the Mekong), in the border area of ​​India and China (energy production at Brahmaputra), West Suriname (canals and pumping stations) and East Suriname (flower rock lake), Venezuela (reservoirs and energy production on behalf of the World Bank )

Life and work in Java

Willem Johan was born out of wedlock to Alexandrina Helena van Blommestein, who worked as a nanny . Shortly after his birth, he was adopted by his mother's brother. After his mother's marriage in 1914, he grew up in his stepfather's household in Purworejo . Thanks to a scholarship from the sugar factory, where his adoptive father was employed, he was able to complete the higher middle school (HBS), a forerunner of the grammar school , in Bandung . He then studied from 1924 to 1928 at the Technical University, from which he graduated with an engineering degree.

In 1928 van Blommestein joined the Dutch-Indian hydraulic engineering authority and worked as an engineer in West and Central Java. In 1929 he married Louise van Polanen Petel, the daughter of a wealthy servant in the Java sugar industry. The family lived in Purworejo, where their two sons were born in 1931 and 1934.

Equipped with a scholarship from the hydraulic engineering authority, van Blommestein moved with his family to Europe in 1936 to study further in his subject for a year in Munich and Karlsruhe. He mainly dealt with hydropower and turbines . After his return to Java, he received a senior position at the Provincial Hydraulic Engineering Authority of Central Java in Semarang . Here he was involved in the planning and implementation of an irrigation system of 20,000 hectares of land in the Seraju area .

After completing his postgraduate studies in Europe, he received his doctorate cum laude on May 30, 1939 at the Technical University of Bandung with a study of a new pumping system for irrigation and drainage in the Dutch East Indies.

After the Japanese occupied the Dutch East Indies in World War II in 1942 , Blommestein was interned. After a short time, however, he was able to continue working in his work area under the Japanese occupation. After the capitulation of Japan in 1946, he was appointed head of the Irrigation and Drainage Department of the Department of Hydraulic Engineering and Reconstruction.

In 1948 he published a hydraulic welfare plan for West Java. This included the improvement of various functions such as irrigation, drainage, drainage of areas, drinking water supply, electricity generation, shipping, industry, water supply, fishing and the flushing of the canals of Batavia . The reason for the plan was the poor nutritional situation at the time, partly caused by the rapid population increase. The intended improvement of the water balance should not only increase rice production on Java, but also the economic situation of the island. It was not until 1957 that a start was made with the implementation of the plan.

International tasks

In 1949 the van Blommestein family traveled to Europe again and took up residence in The Hague . He should no longer return to his country of birth. Because of his Dutch origins, he could no longer hold a higher position in the Indonesian hydraulic engineering authority in now independent Indonesia . In the Netherlands he developed the “Brokopondoplan” for colonial Suriname . The aim of this was to build a large water reservoir and power plants, primarily for bauxite processing.

On behalf of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) he went to East Pakistan (now Bangladesh ) from 1951 to 1959 . Here he made plans for the protection of the country from storms, cyclones and floods in the delta of the Brahmaputra and Ganges : for movable dams with hydroelectric turbines under water, a canal between two rivers, a sea dike with locks, dams, pumping stations, polders and various irrigation systems. This project should enable three rice harvests per year and also put an end to the constant flooding. The project was implemented later.

This was followed by changing jobs and places of residence in the service of the FAO. In 1964 he became an advisor to the government of Suriname and remained so until 1970. This is where his most famous work, the Prof.-Dr.-Ir.-W.-J.-van-Blommestein-See , which he helped to project and which is named after him, was created is. The dam was built from 1960 to 1964 as part of the Brokopondoplan. The reservoir is the largest lake in Suriname and is dammed by a 1913 m long and 54 m high dam. This reservoir is one of the largest on earth with a maximum of 1560 km² of water surface. Blommestein lived with his wife in Paramaribo at this time .

After his retirement in 1970 he moved to the Netherlands, first to Rijswijk , then to Voorburg in 1977 , and after the death of his wife in 1979 to Eemnes. He remained active even after his retirement. In 1979, at the age of 74, he worked again on the welfare plan for West Java: water supply and irrigation of Java and the neighboring island ( Madura ), water storage, canals and pumping stations, flood protection in Djakarta and expansion of the port.

literature

• W. Ravesteijn: An engineer met visie. Prof. Dr. Ir. Willem Johan van Blommestein (1905–1985) . In: Tijdschrift voor Waterstaatsgeschiedenis, Jaargang: 11, 1, 2002, pp. 6-11. ISSN  0927-3336 .
• W. Ravesteijn: Willem Johan van Blommestein . In: Biografisch Woordenboek van Nederland, Jaargang: 2001, 5, 2001, pp. 43–45. ISBN 9789052161228 .

Web links

• Biography van Blommestein, Willem Johan van