The first serious plans for draining the Lauwers Sea were from 1849 . In the 1930s a commission came up with several plans but all were shelved and were never accomplished . The flood disaster of 1953 and the Christmas flood of 1954 made clear that something had to be done . In 1958 the New Delta Law ordered a reinforcement of the dikes in the north of the Netherlands . At the Lauwers Sea there were two options , to reinforce the existing dikes around the Lauwers Sea ( 32 km of dikes ) or to make a 13 km dam separating the Lauwers Sea and the Wadden Sea . After a study found that the 13 km dike plan was more expensive than the 32 km plan , the government decided on the cheaper option
flood disaster of 1953
North Sea flood of 1953
Lauwersmeer