Goose foot

The sluice complex 'De Ganzepoot' is a crucial point in the drainage system. The vannen or outlet sluices allow the low-lying polders to dispose of excess water, while the sluices regulate the water level of the canals for navigation purposes. The doors of the vannen are closed during high tide, and opened at low tide to direct the excess water to the sea. The actual sluices are used for the passage of ships.
Through the “Ganzepoot”, the Havengeul connects with no less than six different traffic and/or drainage directions: The Nieuw Bedelfverlaat, De Gravensluis, Het Springverlaat, De Iepersluis, Het Veurne-Ambachtverlaat, and De Veurnesluis.
In the past, the sluice system of Nieuwpoort, through flooding, has repeatedly ensured the city’s protection from inundation and occupation by foreign armies. French and German invaders have experienced this firsthand, to their shame and disgrace.
The flooding in 1914 during “The Great War” remains the most evocative: on August 4, 1914, hell breaks loose and the steamroller of the German Emperor Wilhelm II rolls into our country. King Albert I makes a tragic appeal to defend the last strip of land that remains, bordered by the IJzer and Ieperlee, and with the sea at its back, to the utmost. This defensive line holds thanks to an ally that is the water of the IJzer. Supervisor of the Noordwatering, Karel Cogge, from Veurne, knows the hydraulic network of channels, streams, and drainage ditches that exchange their water with the IJzer via the Nieuwpoort sluices; and skipper Hendrik Geeraert from Nieuwpoort knows how to handle the materials. They open the sluices and let the water flow into the hinterland. It rises beyond its banks and floods the plain: it forces the enemy to retreat. The front will remain stabilized here until the victorious final offensive in 1918.

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