Hundreds of groundwater wells around De Peel from which tens of thousands of liters of water can be pumped up per hour: many farms use that groundwater to grow their crops. That is bad for nature, because the groundwater level in De Peel needs to be raised. That is why the Werkgroep Behoud de Peel foundation wants the province to intervene. But that is not what the province is jumping for.
In the zones around the Peel areas, groundwater wells from which more than 10,000 liters of water are extracted per hour are subject to a permit requirement. Originally, the provinces of Brabant and Limburg wanted to exempt groundwater wells from this. The wells would do almost no harm to the nature reserves.
That didn’t last long. Several studies showed that nature does indeed suffer from the large use of groundwater, so the court’s exemption had to be reversed.
Hundreds of ‘illegal’ wells
According to Stichting Werkgroep Behoud de Peel, hundreds of such wells have been dug and not one of them has a permit. In the meantime, nature in De Peel is getting worse, with the low water level being the major cause. That is why the environmental club submitted a request to the province to enforce it.
But the province is not keen on that. If a well has been drilled before the permit requirement has been imposed, it is considered to be ‘existing law’. A permit is then not required. The province therefore wants to find out for each well whether there is indeed existing law.
Research
This requires a huge archive investigation, for which the province wants to take the time until December 31, 2024. “You don’t need a year and a half for that,” says foreman Wim Opbergen. “It’s either there or it isn’t.” The working group therefore wants to give the province until 1 January 2024 at most.
According to Behoud de Peel, whether or not you have existing rights does not matter at all. “If there is a major negative impact on the nature reserve, the nature conservation law must take action anyway,” says Opbergen. “We have known for a long time that the groundwater level in De Peel is far too low and that nature is doing badly there. So something has to be done.”
All ‘bits’ together
The province also claims that it will have to be demonstrated separately for each groundwater well that it has a major impact on the Peelvenen. That kite does not apply to Storage. It is precisely all wells in the vicinity of nature together that cause the problems, he thinks. “Several studies have shown that the sum of the irrigation wells has a large effect. A single well will almost never have a large effect.”
At the end of June it became clear once again that things are going very badly for De Peel. The so-called nature target analyzes showed that in addition to an excess of nitrogen, the too low water level poses a serious threat to the continued existence of the raised bog. There is therefore an urgent need to pump up less water, for example for spraying.
And this is also the reason why Behoud de Peel thinks it is necessary for the province to do something. Opbergen: “Since the 1990s I’ve seen great plans, but nothing happens. It’s nothing but porridge and keep dry what happens, at the expense of nature.”
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