Arable farmers around Geelbroek want the Council of State to designate an independent expert who will investigate the consequences of watering what Water Board Hunze and Aa’s wants to increase the adjacent nature reserve.
They are afraid that they will stay with damage if their lands get too wet due to the permits that the water board has granted. The water board granted the permits on behalf of the province. The farmers themselves have not been able to find an independent research agency. They all have an interest somewhere, they say.
That is why the court was asked to give the investigation assignment to the Advisory Administrative Jurisdiction Advisory. “The water board has an entire network of paid experts and agencies. The knowledge and power balance is crooked while the burden of proof is laid with the citizens,” said the farmers’ spokesperson.
The farmers have lodged an objection to permits that the water board has granted for increasing the groundwater level, dampening and digging waterways and removing and changing dams and weirs. The work is carried out by Prolander. It does the emiddle work for the province of Drenthe at Geelbroek and Ekehaar.
According to the water board, which has granted the permits to Prolander, the measures for agricultural land in the neighborhood will not damage. The water board says that the average highest groundwater level under the agricultural land will rise between two and five centimeters. At five centimeters, the loss would be a maximum of 5 percent for farmers. There is a claim settlement for that.
The farmers want to know in advance where they stand. “Five centimeters can cause 20 percent damage to us,” one of them said. The difficulty is that it cannot be predicted. Now it is a dry year, for example. But with damage in wet years, according to the farmers it will be very difficult to identify the cause.
The Council of State’s decision will follow in a few weeks.