Drought: Twente Canal closed to shipping traffic from tomorrow
The locks at the Gelderland village of Eefde, which provide access to the Twente Canal, will remain closed to shipping starting Saturday. The national government has taken this measure to prevent irreparable damage to flood defenses, the soil, and nature around the canal caused by the persistent drought.
The locks will close on Saturday, July 25, at 12:00 p.m. indefinitely. In addition to the measure for shipping, farmers will also be banned from irrigating their crops with water from the canal, commonly known as a “water extraction ban” in the Netherlands.
On the section of the canal between Almelo and De Haandrik, the water level must be at least 9.10 meters above NAP (Dutch Normaal Amsterdams Peil). Below that level, there is a risk that the embankment will subside.
Because water levels threaten to fall below that limit, all available water is being deployed to maintain the level. In recent days, there have been attempts to keep the water level high using pumps and other measures, but this proved insufficient.
In addition to Twente, measures against the drought are also being taken in the south of Gelderland. Water Authority Revierenland has imposed three water extraction bans around Nijmegen as of Saturday. These apply to the Ooijpolder and Groesbeek water level areas. Such a ban will also apply in the De Bruuk nature reserve near Groesbeek, where groundwater levels have dropped to a historically low level. The ban applies to all users, including farmers, sports clubs, and private individuals.
The measures will remain in effect until water levels at Eefde return to normal.
