The Brabantse Delta water board in West Brabant imposed the first abstraction bans for surface water of this year on Tuesday. With such an abstraction ban, no more water may be taken from the waterways and connected ditches and streams for, for example, irrigation.
A ban has been imposed on the irrigation of grassland in the Donvallie catchment area. A total ban has been imposed on the catchment areas of the Brandse Vaart and its tributaries, the Kibbelvaart, the Lokkervaart and the Bosloop, the Wouwse Gronden Oost, the Bleekloop and the Zoom.
‘Nature catches up with us’
In recent years, these areas have also been the first to experience drought, resulting in an abstraction ban. The withdrawal ban applies until revoked. The water board cannot yet say when that will be. No abstraction ban from surface water applies (yet) to other areas in West Brabant.
“It is dry and that already early in the year,” explains daily board member Kees de Jong of the Brabantse Delta water board. “We are introducing these extraction bans to prevent desiccation in this area. In the winter, together with farmers and nature reserve managers, we retained the water well and for a long time, but now nature is catching up with us.”
Brabantse Delta signals falling groundwater levels in its area. The month of March was extremely dry and there was also no significant precipitation in April. The lower water level can cause damage to banks and quays. Animals and plants can also die in the water. That is why the withdrawal ban has been introduced. The water board is closely monitoring the situation and an extraction ban will be withdrawn as soon as possible. This will then be announced via the website of the water board and Official Announcements.nl†
‘We are closely monitoring the situation’
The Aa en Maas water board has not yet instituted a ban on abstraction from surface water in the northeast of the province. “We now only have a temporary ban on the use of groundwater for irrigating grassland, for a small part of our area,” said spokeswoman Sophie Hendriks. “A ban on abstraction of surface water is not yet an issue for us, but we are closely monitoring the situation, because it is simply very dry.”
Water board De Dommel has not yet instituted any abstraction bans from surface water in the southeast of Brabant. “But there is a very good chance that these will follow later this week”, spokeswoman Ilse Pol said. “We are monitoring the situation very closely.”
The Rivierenland Water Board could not be reached for comment on Tuesday morning.
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