Old Delft Water Walk
We walk to the end of Geerweg, to the pumping station and weir. This weir was also installed to protect the city from high water on the Rhine-Schie Canal (see also stop 5). Next to the weir, a pumping station was built, the Duyvelsgat pumping station. Most of this pumping station is located beneath the road surface of the Oostplantsoen. Therefore, you only see the grate for removing coarse floating debris. This pumping station can lower the water level in the closed-off city centre by up to 17 cm. The pumping station has a capacity of 85 m³/minute.
In Dutch, the name Duyvelsgat means Hole of the Devil. It refers to the former mill on the city wall, at the end of the Geerweg. It was there already in 1445 and served to refresh the city canals, particularly for the breweries. Normally, the canals were flushed with water flowing south from the Vliet (Rhine-Schie Canal) to the Schie River. If there was insufficient circulation, water could be drawn from the Nootdorpse Vaart canal using the Duyvelsgat mill. Then the current became locally very strong, with major problem for shipping. Hence the name Duyvelsgat.
