These days, hikers are surprised when they take a walk along the Hoornsemeer. The whole of the Netherlands is flooding, but in the popular Groningen swimming lake the water recedes meters from the shore. What is going on here?
The answer to that question appears not to be so easy to find. Water boards Noorderzijlvest and Hunze en Aa’s will initially come to know which of them is exactly responsible for the water level in the ‘Hoornseplassss’, so beautifully sung by Rooie Rinus and Pé Daalemmer. It is located exactly on the border of their working areas.
Noorderzijlvest refers to Hunze and Aa’s, but he is certain that the Hoornseplas and the adjacent Hoornsemeer really fall under the management of its neighboring water board. On closer inspection this appears to be correct, but Noorderzijlvest knows nothing about a water level reduction. In any case, the shelf itself is not pumping there.
Water boards know nothing about low water levels
Internal consultation sheds some light on the issue. Management falls under the Paterswoldsemeer Meerschap, which the neighboring municipalities of Groningen and Tynaarlo have specially established for this water-rich area on their mutual border. Noorderzijlvest also does not know exactly why the lake is now dry along the embankment, but suspects that it is related to maintenance work.
Maintenance work? What exactly is being maintained: there is no machine to be seen along the side. But wait a minute, could it perhaps also be related to a persistent problem that also affected the Hoornseplas last summer in June? Then the province issued negative swimming advice due to swimmer’s itch. For a month it was not recommended to go into the water.
Drying seems intended to alleviate the cause of swimmer’s itch
Swimmer’s itch is caused by a parasite that lives on water birds and small pond snails. And the latter in turn reside in the waterbed. Normally they hibernate in the comfortable sludge without any problems, provided there is no severe frost. But that changes if you literally put them out to dry.
Could that be the explanation for this last part of the Netherlands that is not flooded, but is actually drying out? As supervisor of bathing water quality, the province also has no answer. The only party that can unravel the riddle is really the Meerschap. But the final word of salvation will have to wait a while. Anyone who calls the office on Harense Meerweg will immediately receive the message that the telephone number is not reachable…