Imagine that. Polluting surface water has consequences. Go figure.
Imagine that. Polluting surface water has consequences. Go figure.
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Growing concerns about a possible drinking water shortage in the Netherlands. And not without reason: a roundup by Nieuwsuur reveals that three out of ten water companies are already taking acute shortages into account this summer in the event of an unexpectedly high demand for drinking water. This applies to the regions of Overijssel, Gelderland, Groningen and the west of South Holland.
The demand for drinking water is rising due in part to population growth, climate change and increasing economic activities at companies that use drinking water. To meet this growing demand, water companies are opening new extraction sites, storing more water and everyone has to be more economical with water.
Drinking water company Vitens is already feeling the pinch and is therefore rolling up its sleeves early. "Climate change has a major impact on our water consumption. In the summer period we see enormous peaks that we can no longer keep up with with the current installations", says Doeke Schippers, strategic advisor to Vitens. Already the largest drinking water company in the Netherlands has to refuse requests from companies that need drinking water.
For drinking water companies, building water supplies are a race against time:
Vitens designates so-called "strategic hearts" of water extraction in their area. These are extraction locations that are currently small, but where there is a relatively large amount of water to be extracted. In Epe in Gelderland is an example of such a strategic heart. There, water is transported from the Veluwe to infiltration ponds, pumped into the ground and stored. "In periods when it rains a lot, we try to store as much water in the ground as possible so that in dry periods we can get the water out again. We also call it a water battery."
Vitens is also working on an underground distribution network to transport water to the east of the country, where extracting water is more difficult. And that's not the only thing. For the first time, Vitens - which has long made drinking water from groundwater - is now also looking at surface water. "We are constantly looking for new sources of water to meet the growing demand. That is why we are now trying to purify water from the river IJssel directly into drinking water," Schippers said.
While the first tests with surface water are being conducted in the east of the Netherlands, surface water is the only source of drinking water for the west of the country. In the dunes of Scheveningen the groundwater is too salty because it is close to the coast, and so the Randstad drinks water from the IJsselmeer or from the rivers the Maas and the Lek. But this is no longer so obvious: turning river water into clean drinking water takes more and more effort.
No water from the tap "The quality of our surface water is deteriorating rapidly, so keeping up with purification is becoming increasingly complicated," says Wim Drossaert, director of drinking water company Dunea. Industrial discharges, drug residues and agricultural pesticides pose a serious threat to the rivers and thus to the drinking water supply. "There are substances among them that simply cannot be purified anymore and that is a major concern," he said.
Drossaert explains that in dry periods less water flows through the rivers and if polluting discharges do not decrease then, the concentration of pollution increases. "If that happens then we can't take any more water, and then we only have a six-week supply. That's a problem because after six weeks it just stops, then there's just no more water coming out of the tap."
Yesterday, the Council for the Environment and Infrastructure (RLI) handed an alarming report to the cabinet on water quality in the Netherlands. The main conclusion of the report is that the Netherlands is not going to meet the goals of the so-called Water Framework Directive (WFD). According to the advisory board, the quality of both groundwater and surface water does not meet European standards. As with nitrogen, housing construction, agriculture and business activities are at risk of shutting down. A new crisis is not out of the question, according to experts.
2022 was one of the driest years ever measured, this spring just one of the wettest. So where does that water go?
Will wars of the future be about water?
Growing concerns about a possible drinking water shortage in the Netherlands. And not without reason: a roundup by Nieuwsuur reveals that three out of ten water companies are already taking acute shortages into account this summer in the event of an unexpectedly high demand for drinking water. This applies to the regions of Overijssel, Gelderland, Groningen and the west of South Holland.
The demand for drinking water is rising due in part to population growth, climate change and increasing economic activities at companies that use drinking water. To meet this growing demand, water companies are opening new extraction sites, storing more water and everyone has to be more economical with water.
Drinking water company Vitens is already feeling the pinch and is therefore rolling up its sleeves early. "Climate change has a major impact on our water consumption. In the summer period we see enormous peaks that we can no longer keep up with with the current installations", says Doeke Schippers, strategic advisor to Vitens. Already the largest drinking water company in the Netherlands has to refuse requests from companies that need drinking water.
For drinking water companies, building water supplies are a race against time:
Vitens designates so-called "strategic hearts" of water extraction in their area. These are extraction locations that are currently small, but where there is a relatively large amount of water to be extracted. In Epe in Gelderland is an example of such a strategic heart. There, water is transported from the Veluwe to infiltration ponds, pumped into the ground and stored. "In periods when it rains a lot, we try to store as much water in the ground as possible so that in dry periods we can get the water out again. We also call it a water battery."
Vitens is also working on an underground distribution network to transport water to the east of the country, where extracting water is more difficult. And that's not the only thing. For the first time, Vitens - which has long made drinking water from groundwater - is now also looking at surface water. "We are constantly looking for new sources of water to meet the growing demand. That is why we are now trying to purify water from the river IJssel directly into drinking water," Schippers said.
While the first tests with surface water are being conducted in the east of the Netherlands, surface water is the only source of drinking water for the west of the country. In the dunes of Scheveningen the groundwater is too salty because it is close to the coast, and so the Randstad drinks water from the IJsselmeer or from the rivers the Maas and the Lek. But this is no longer so obvious: turning river water into clean drinking water takes more and more effort.
No water from the tap
"The quality of our surface water is deteriorating rapidly, so keeping up with purification is becoming increasingly complicated," says Wim Drossaert, director of drinking water company Dunea. Industrial discharges, drug residues and agricultural pesticides pose a serious threat to the rivers and thus to the drinking water supply. "There are substances among them that simply cannot be purified anymore and that is a major concern," he said.
Drossaert explains that in dry periods less water flows through the rivers and if polluting discharges do not decrease then, the concentration of pollution increases. "If that happens then we can't take any more water, and then we only have a six-week supply. That's a problem because after six weeks it just stops, then there's just no more water coming out of the tap."
Yesterday, the Council for the Environment and Infrastructure (RLI) handed an alarming report to the cabinet on water quality in the Netherlands. The main conclusion of the report is that the Netherlands is not going to meet the goals of the so-called Water Framework Directive (WFD). According to the advisory board, the quality of both groundwater and surface water does not meet European standards. As with nitrogen, housing construction, agriculture and business activities are at risk of shutting down. A new crisis is not out of the question, according to experts.
2022 was one of the driest years ever measured, this spring just one of the wettest. So where does that water go?
https://nos.nl/nieuwsuur/artikel/2474861-drinkwaterbedrijven-zetten-zich-schrap-in-de-zomer-kunnen-we-het-niet-meer-bijbenen
**Will wars of the future be about water?**
https://medium.com/writing-for-impact-at-ca-foscari/will-wars-of-the-future-be-about-water-afa93fc611ed
(post is archived)