It is expected that costs will rise even further in the coming years. The water board says it cannot avoid passing on the overall cost increase.
Bert Wiersema, member of the executive board of Noorderzijlvest: “Next year our budget will amount to approximately 117 million euros. We are dealing with cost increases in all kinds of areas. The implementation of our core tasks, clean water, sufficient water and safe water, therefore becomes more expensive. We have no choice but to pass those costs on to our residents.”
Wiersema: “A family with an owner-occupied home and children will pay something like 13 percent more per year. That is more than 70 euros per year. That is a lot of money, but we think it is inevitable. In order not to make the increase in costs even higher , we have decided to use two million euros from our own reserves.”
The water board manager does not dare to say how high the costs could increase after 2024. “I don’t think we can avoid that. We don’t know yet how much that will be. We will calculate that in March next year.”
Waterschap Noorderzijlvest works in North and Central Drenthe, a large part of Groningen and a part of Friesland.