 The town is protected by dikes and gates that can be opened to let water out at low tide, and closed to prevent flooding at high tide.When normal draining at low tide is not sufficient water is pumped near Delfzijl at Farmsum in a modern pumping station that replaced the historical old pump house in the 1970s.The possibility of rising sea level is a large concern in Delfzijl, and storms have occasionally splashed water over the sea dikes in recent years causing the dike to be raised starting in 2017.