It is known that there is a threat of a shortage of drinking water. Drinking water companies have been warning about this for more than two years, they have difficulty supplying sufficient water in dry summers, and occasionally even have to say no to companies, and the RIVM also published an alarming report. “If nothing is done” there will be “water shortages everywhere” by 2030, says the knowledge and research institute. The RIVM calculated the shortage at more than 100 million cubic meters in 2030, or slightly less than consumption in a province such as Overijssel.
From Monday there will be an answer: a national action program with associated regional plans for maintaining and expanding drinking water sources. So that sufficient clean and affordable water continues to come from the tap in the coming years. “I think that is the most important thing,” says Minister Barry Madlener (Infrastructure and Water Management, PVV) in his department in The Hague. He is flanked by Pieter Litjens, chairman of the association of water companies Vewin and by Martijn Dadema, deputy in Overijssel and also working for the Interprovincial Consultation. Madlener: “I remember a warm summer a few years ago at Voorne Putten when a small trickle came out of the tap. I then called the drinking water company to ask if the pressure could be increased, and that was done.”
Also read
Is there enough drinking water in North Brabant? ‘I fear a nightmare if the judge says we can inflate less’
Brewing beer with less water
The action program – a joint plan of the cabinet, the ten drinking water companies and the twelve provinces – aims to prevent millions of households from being permanently supplied with drinking water with great difficulty, and from companies refraining from establishing themselves in the Netherlands or even wanting to leave. “That is a threat that we are averting with this action program,” says Madlener. Half-joking: “Heineken will certainly remain connected, right?” The other gentlemen nod.
Deputy Dadema talks enthusiastically about the increased awareness among the business community. “The major beer brewers in our country are busy saving water. Where they used to need four liters of water to make one liter of beer, that is now often three liters. That is of course fantastic.” Agreements have already been made about saving water. The Netherlands wants to achieve savings of approximately 20 percent in ten years, from 125 to 100 liters of drinking water per person every day. But the Netherlands will not achieve this by simply saving water, says Vewin chairman Litjens. “The availability of drinking water must also be guaranteed in other ways.”
Rules are good. Too many rules are not good
Get a permit faster
The action program must provide for this. The government will investigate what accelerations are possible in mandatory procedures for expanding existing permits to extract drinking water or to apply for new permits. Dadema: “That sometimes takes seven to ten years. If that could be done shorter, that would be fantastic.” Madlener: “Rules are good. Too many rules are not good. Rules are part of the problem.” The procedures sometimes take a long time due to objections from local residents who fear subsidence, from nature organizations who warn about damage to nature reserves, and farmers who years ago may have wished that drinking water companies would pump up excess groundwater, but now, in the erratic and sometimes bone-dry weather, they also fear that their crops do not receive enough water. Litjens: “In all these cases it helps enormously if the government makes it known that drinking water is not just one of the interests, but a basic necessity of life.”
In Brabant, a discussion is raging about plans for drinking water extraction near Tilburg, near a Natura 2000 area. Madlener: “I haven’t had to make a hard choice between water and nature yet. That’s not necessary either. I think you mainly have to look locally to see what is sensible.” Litjens: “There is not much tension between drinking water and nature. Drinking water companies are one of the largest nature managers in the Netherlands. We have an interest in nature that is not harmed. The healthier the nature and the environment, the higher the quality of the drinking water sources.”
The healthier the nature and the environment, the higher the quality of the drinking water sources
More water from lakes and rivers
In the coming years, new extraction locations will be designated and current extraction locations will be expanded. Another solution to the impending drinking water shortage is to extract more water from surface water, such as lakes and rivers. Madlener wants to participate in this. Drinking water company Vitens, for example, wants to provide drinking water with water from the IJssel Twente. Drinking water companies are also looking for alternatives: Dunea in South Holland purifies brackish water into drinking water and Brabant Water is even experimenting with the purification of seawater.
The drinking water companies will not receive any additional government money to pay for these new extractions. However, the drinking water companies have recently had extra room to invest; The government allows them to strengthen their capacity for this more often. Litjens: “We have been given more opportunities to attract money, for example for the construction of new production locations, because our companies cannot pay for all of this from their own capital, and our shareholders are often not interested in that either.” Dadema: “We want to build large pipelines in Overijssel to be less dependent on separate drinking water areas. It is nice that the companies can invest in this themselves without having to approach their shareholders, often municipalities and provinces.”
Costs are also rising due to the increased need to purify water from pesticides, medicine residues, PFAS and ever new substances. Part of these costs are also recovered from the user through rates. Rates have risen by an average of more than 11 percent this year, with peaks of 20 percent. Dadema: “We sometimes have discussions about pricing drinking water. Should you make drinking water more expensive to entice people to use less? Could you introduce a basic rate with different variants?” Madlener: “I am very skeptical about that.” Dadema: “I know that. There are differences of opinion about this.”
Should you make drinking water more expensive to entice people to use less?
Better from the tap than from the bottle
PVV Minister Madlener wants to make it clear that he is fighting for the maintenance of not only sufficient but also affordable and clean drinking water. Madlener: “I often stay in Belgium. There I drink water from a bottle. Not from the tap. That’s not drinkable. They still make coffee and tea with it, but most Belgians I know drink water from a bottle, just like the French. The fact that we actually have drinking water is something special. I think it is a great achievement.” Litjens: “Spring water sounds almost idyllic. But that bottled spring water comes from the same sources. Only there is plastic around it.” Madlener: “It is fantastic that the quality of the water from the tap is guaranteed.”