Water companies in the Netherlands risk soon being unable to provide new connections for drinking water for newly built homes or businesses. In some parts of the Netherlands there are even now problems guaranteeing drinking water supplies, warns Pieter Litjens, chairman of the industry association for water companies Vewin.
Due to population growth and the construction of many additional homes, water companies must sharply increase their production, but years pass before such a company is allowed to extract water from a new well.
In the west of Brabant, the area around The Hague, parts of central Netherlands, Twente and the north of Groningen there are immediate problems with guaranteeing the drinking water supply. If governments do not act to quickly enable additional water sources, drinking water supplies for 2030 in most of the Netherlands will become uncertain.
"Sometimes water companies already have to sell no, for the time being only to companies," says Litjens "This is mainly to do with the availability of wells. Before you can use a new source, it can take up to fifteen years. Once a suitable source is found, provinces have to issue permits, but they have a lot of spatial interests to take into account," he explains. For example, there must also be enough space for building and for greenery.
Vewin reports that the government's goal of building at least 900,000 homes by 2030 is unachievable as far as the water companies are concerned at the current state of affairs.
