It is very dry in Brabant. In West Brabant, the Brabantse Delta water board calls on residents, farmers and companies to be economical in their use of water. Water board De Dommel reports that the situation in East Brabant is not much better: “The snow has not helped enough.”
“We prefer not to scare people, but we do make them aware of the situation. We are still in a historically dry period,” says director Rian Govers-Gabriëls of the Brabantse Delta Water Board. The water board warns that with little rainfall there is a risk of a very dry spring in the coming weeks. “By using water consciously now, we can prevent bigger problems later in the year.”
Snow hardly helped
Jeannette van Boerdonk, advisor at De Dommel Water Board, supports the message of Brabantse Delta. “You never know what rain will fall, but if it doesn’t it will only get drier. This is slowly becoming a problem.”
She explains why the snow didn’t help: “It snowed a lot, which was nice, but 10 centimeters of snow only produces about 10 millimeters of water. That is insufficient to fill shortages, even in places where more snow fell.” Even after the snowfall, there was hardly any rain. “This is exceptional, because there is a lot of rain in this season.” The autumn and summer periods were also very dry. That’s where the problem started, according to Van Boerdonk.
What can you do yourself?
By using water consciously now, we can prevent bigger problems, says the Brabantse Delta Water Board. This means that you must be economical with your water, so that the water shortage does not increase in the summer.
Do you want your garden not to dry out? Then, for example, remove tiles or connect a rain barrel so that rainwater has the opportunity to sink into the ground. That’s what De Dommel Water Board tips off.
