Our drinking water is under threat. These five solutions can help (and yes, that includes your shower and garden)

Hundreds of people died every year from cholera outbreaks. Infant mortality was high. Massive outbreaks of epidemics are no exception. The warning in the introduction to the extensive advice Provide Water of the Council for the Environment and Infrastructure (Rli) is clear. This is how it went before the Netherlands had a good, safe drinking water supply.

The first dune water tap was installed in Amsterdam in 1853, but it was not until the 1960s that the whole of the Netherlands could get water from the tap at home. The fact that everyone must have access to clean drinking water has now been laid down in law. Because it is indispensable. Not only for health, but also for agriculture and horticulture, recreation, the food industry and nature. But it is not self-evident, the Council warns. Due to climate change, fresh water pollution and population growth, there is less clean water and shortages are looming.

Dozens of companies are already unable to be connected to the drinking water network due to scarcity. River water regularly cannot be used by purification companies because it contains too many pollutants. By medicines, drugs and cleaning products from homes, but also by fertilizers or pesticides from agriculture or pollutants from industry. Sometimes people are not allowed to use tap water for a while due to bacteria – in particular the ‘poo bacteria’ e.coli.

Zoom in

There is also a struggle for water. In 2024, fourteen hundred farmers joined one mass claim against eight drinking water companies. According to the farmers, they extracted so much water from the soil that their crops did not grow well and their income decreased. A decision in the lawsuit is expected later this year.

The list of authorities that have warned about deterioration of the drinking water network (from the Court of Audit to the Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate) is now long. There is already an action program from the ministry. “Sweeping measures” are necessary, the Rli report also states.

Council member and committee chairman Erik Verhoef: “People assume that they can simply tap the best drinking water in the world from the tap. There is no need to panic, but we want to put that obviousness into perspective. Something really needs to be done to preserve what we have.” Rli chairman Jan Jacob van Dijk: “We also thought that energy would always be available, but now we see that the grid is filling up. This could also happen with drinking water in the long term.”

It is clear that something has to be done. But what? Five possible solutions.

1Restore and protect freshwater

A ‘drinking water landscape’ has been created in the De Groote Heide nature reserve near Leende, North Brabant. A water extraction area in which nature, agriculture and drinking water extraction are combined – with the latter taking the lead. A good idea, the Council believes, because surface and groundwater are the most important sources of all drinking water. If you protect these two well, you will prevent problems. This can be done, as in Leende, by giving them priority in spatial planning. But the space that this requires is now often used for other things, such as energy (storage), traffic, agriculture, houses or nature. In addition, new ways of purifying water from contaminants are often considered. But they are not always effective, and moreover they tackle the symptom and not the disease. The most important solution is therefore an enormous task: restoring and protecting our freshwater sources.

2Create a national drinking water plan (and take it seriously, politicians)

The advice describes it as possible that in the future farmers will have to adjust the use of their land or housing construction plans will have to be adjusted to ensure a healthy drinking water supply. Provinces, municipalities and water boards are obliged to provide residents with clean drinking water. All this is now still being looked at regionally, but that is “not sufficient”, the Council writes. Moreover, provinces, municipalities and water boards do not take their duty of care “insufficiently seriously”. Erik Verhoef: “Everyone understands how important drinking water is, but governments do not yet feel the urgency. While steps need to be taken now.”

The committee believes that a national drinking water plan is therefore needed, based on the example of the Delta Plan (which protects the Netherlands against flooding). For example, create a national map on which the drinking water infrastructure is developed, just like the electricity grid. It will then become clear which regions have shortages and surpluses and water can be exchanged. Sounds logical, but it’s not there yet. Council President Van Dijk: “A national plan also helps when local and national interests threaten to collide.”

For example, is it more important to build homes outside the dike along the IJsselmeer, or will this affect the country’s largest freshwater supply too much? And how do you deal with a new yoghurt factory, such as the one that opened in Hoogeveen in 2023 and uses 2.5 million liters of drinking water per day – as much as approximately ten thousand households? Or data centers, which together according to the Drinkwater Platform use about 0.08 percent of all Dutch drinking water and are on the rise? Don’t leave it to local politicians, the report says, but make a national plan.

3Money

The government should become a shareholder in the drinking water companies, the Council writes. That would help create a national strategy, but is also financially attractive. “Significant investments” are needed to maintain the water supply. Freshwater buffers must be created, reservoirs dug, and special batteries installed that can store water in times of drought. The government could use part of the Delta Fund for this.

Then transport pipes still have to be maintained and purification plants expanded. And the water supply network needs to be modernized. It was constructed just after the Second World War and is “at the end of its lifespan.” Drinking water companies have insufficient reserves and are only allowed to make a limited return (although this was recently increased by the minister), which means that investments are not being made. In 2025, drinking water companies had an average of around 70 million euros in investment capital. That amount, the Council believes, should increase, although no amounts are mentioned. “First make a national plan, then you can do the math,” says Van Dijk.

Zoom in

4Purifying wastewater and other innovations

In Kerkrade, rainwater is collected and locally purified into drinking water. The project, Super localshows that innovation can help to get more clean water then from the ground alone. It saves water, reduces nuisance during heavy rainfall and helps make the district climate-proof. It does cost something: 15,000 to 20,000 euros per home, and the annual maintenance and operating costs are also relatively high.

There are more progressive water projects in the country. For example, wastewater is reused at the ‘circular water roundabout’ of Eerbeek in Gelderland. Water from the paper and cardboard industry is purified and can be reused, which has raised the groundwater level by up to two meters: good for the availability of clean drinking water and helps against drought.

The Council looks at these types of innovations in two ways, says Councilor Verhoef: “Research them and continue with them. But the basis, our freshwater system, remains the most important, so that is where most attention should be paid.”

5Fill your swimming pool? Pay!

The government wants citizens to use less water. The National Drinking Water Savings Action Plan was published in 2024. People should use up to 100 liters of drinking water per person per day, instead of the 128 liters that people currently use on average. And the industry must absorb 20 percent less water. All that before 2035.

After a period of decline, more water has been consumed by households since 2018. Rain showers, large gardens, swimming pools in the summer: more widely available luxury that leads to more water consumption. According to the Council, Dutch citizens are “insufficiently aware of the value and price of drinking water” and this leads to “sloppy use”.

The Council does not shy away from coming up with a controversial proposal: charge an extra high rate for ‘excessive use’, and also make the ‘fixed charge’ (currently the fixed amount regardless of consumption) variable based on actual use. Exact amounts are not mentioned, but it must first be investigated how sensitive people are to price fluctuations. According to estimates, it could save 5 to 30 percent in water consumption.

Verhoef: “No one denies you the right to water, but it doesn’t hurt to get people to think about it more consciously.” Van Dijk: “With normal use you do not have to pay more. But if you want to fill a swimming pool or water your garden every day, we think it is fair if you pay more.”

Zoom in

Give a gift





Part





Email the editor