Molenwaard

Molenwaard is a municipality in the western Netherlands, in the southeastern part of the province of South Holland, and the northwestern part of the region of Alblasserwaard. It has been the result of a merger of the municipalities of Graafstroom, Liesveld, and Nieuw-Lekkerland on 1 January 2013. Molenwaard has about 29,000 inhabitants and an area of about. Biggest places are Bleskensgraaf, Groot-Ammers, and Nieuw-Lekkerland.The municipality of Molenwaard lies about 1.5 m below sea level. It is bordered by the Lek river in the north and the Noord river in the west (just a small part). On its area flows the Graafstroom or Alblas river.Molenwaard can be characterized as a landscape of polders existing of vast pastures traversed by ditches and canals, like the Groote- of Achterwaterschap, and the Ammersche Boezem. In the outermost northwest one can find the famous windmills of Kinderdijk.From a churchly point of view the municipality belongs to the so-called Bible Belt, with as outcome the dominating of the Christian parties in politics.