The Lower House parliamentary group of Interest of the Netherlands wants clarification from Minister Harbers of Infrastructure and Water Management about the water pollution in the Veense Put near Veen. The reason is the unrest that arose among local residents after Matthijs Roza sounded the alarm on Omroep Brabant last month about sudden pollution of the Veense Put with plastic and tempex. At the request of Rijkswaterstaat, sludge and sand are poured into the water there to make the well shallower.
The party is also concerned about the quality of the drinking water that is extracted there for the region of The Hague. “Less than 2 kilometers upstream from the place where things that cannot tolerate daylight were probably dumped, is the water intake of drinking company Dunea.”
According to party chairman Wybren van Haga, ‘the quality of drinking water should not be taken for granted’. “Plastic bottles, garbage bags, but especially a lot of small pieces of tempex – Styrofoam – have recently been floating around in the Veense Put near Veen. To prevent the dykes from sinking, sand or sludge is poured into the water to make the well less deep. Inland vessels with bulk material from Belgium sail back and forth According to our sources, the Veense Put suddenly turned into a ‘plastic soup’.
“Partners tell us that the cargo of inland vessels is not that clean. And that worries us, because last year the Zembla research program also paid attention to the deepening of former sand pits and came to disturbing conclusions.”
Research showed that in addition to pollution with plastic waste, most shiploads also contained chemical pollution. After the deposits, the water quality in the sand pits deteriorated rapidly.
The leader of Interest of the Netherlands wants clarification from responsible minister Harbers. He wants to know if they are aware of the water pollution and the unrest this has caused. He also wants Harbers’ guarantee that the water in the Veense Put will remain suitable for making drinking water and for recreation. Because according to Van Haga, it is rumored that the intake of water by Dunea has temporarily ceased.
TV program Zembla came to shocking conclusions about the deepening of sand pits: