News item | 18-07-2025 | 15:45
Sources of contamination faster, update admission rules for crop protection products, inform companies faster faster when their activities lead to exceeding standard, making discharge permits faster KRW-proof … Today, Minister Robert Tieman (Infrastructure and Water Management) announces which additional measures are taken to comply with the European water-quality dials faster).
The Dutch water is becoming increasingly cleaner. Yet it turned out at the end of 2024 the interim evaluation That there are still significant tasks to meet the WFD in 2027. That is why the government, the water boards, the provinces, the municipalities and the business community have joined forces and agreed various measures together.
Minister Tieman: “In our Waterland we all enjoy rivers, lakes, strokes and puddles. That we all benefit from clean water, it also appears from the large number of parties with which we have made agreements to get our water cleaner. I think it is very nice that so many different parties participate. Together we will work with these extra measures.”
More commitment and new measures
To ensure that there will be fewer chemicals in the water, the ministry presents an approach of 15 points. This includes, for example:
- New analyzes for detecting pollution sources: there are both national and regional initiatives to better visualize the sources of WFD overruns.
- Update regulations for crop protection products: the admission of the eleven most harmful crop protection products from agriculture is adjusted. These crop protection products contain substances that are too much in the water and which have been proven that the largest source comes from agriculture. The interim methodology will be available at the beginning of 2026, in 2027 the final methodology will be available.
- Measurement data faster feedback to companies: the ministry and the water boards ensure that measurement data quickly ends up with farmers. For example, they can still adjust the use of crop protection products during the growing season.
- Making discharge permits faster WFD-proof: the water boards and the provinces will update the discharge permits that are relevant to the WFD, with priority where necessary. Rijkswaterstaat is already doing this.
- Companies make it aware of interest good water quality: VNO-NCW and MKB-Nederland have started different actions with financial support from the government, such as an opportunity for companies to check whether their activities are contrary to the WFD.
- Testing at sewage treatment plants: the ministry and the water boards want more insight into the effects of discharges of sewage treatment plants. More measurements will be made, both before and after the water went through the installation. Work is also being done on better testing whether the purified water is clean enough to discharge.
Significant tasks
There are different substances in the water that have to be removed, such as metal and medicines. The greatest risks for the WFD lie in the field of nutrients (manure) and crop protection products. The 8one The Nitrate Directive Action Program has to take steps in the right direction at the end of this year with regard to nutrients, the measures announced today partly focus on the crop protection products.
No country is currently on track to achieve all KRW goals in 2027. This also applies to the Netherlands, despite the above extra measures. The Netherlands is currently satisfying more than 80% of the goals, but this percentage will increase in the coming years.