Agriculture lobby convinced gov't to scrap measures from new water policy

The Dutch government adjusted its new water policy on several points under pressure from the agriculture lobby, Trouw reports based on confidential drafts of the Minister’s letter to parliament. Minister Mark Harbers of Infrastructure and Water Management scrapped a ban on pumping up groundwater around nature reserves and an obligation to apply for a permit when pumping up groundwater.

Harbers sent the plans to parliament at the end of last year. The goal is to use water and soil more sparingly as climate change causes more and more droughts in the country. For centuries, the Netherlands has geared the groundwater level and water infrastructure to agriculture, housing, and industry. The new policy is a break from the past. “We are reaching the limits of the water and soil system,” Harbers wrote.

But internal documents from the Ministry, published with the letter to parliament, showed that the Minister scrapped measures under pressure from the agriculture and horticulture organization LTO and the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature, and Food Quality (LNV). Officials from the Ministry of Infrastructure wrote that the texts about a permit requirement and groundwater extraction ban were “very important” to “LNV/LTO.” And in the final letter Harbers sent to parliament, those texts were removed completely or “softened.”

Experts called the adjustments to the policy a shame. According to Hydrologist Ge van den Eertwegh of consultancy firm KnowH2O, a permit requirement is necessary to prevent a drop in groundwater levels during droughts. “At the moment, we do not know enough about how much is being pumped up.” Harbers proposed a measurement and registration obligation as an alternative. But that won’t work, Van den Eertwegh said to Trouw. “There is already a notification requirement and a groundwater register. If that worked, nature wouldn’t dry out so much.”

“A ban on groundwater extraction by agriculture around nature areas would help to prevent desiccation there,” said Ruud Bartholomeus of the research institute KWR about the other scrapped measure.

Farmers pump more groundwater during dry periods, and that is exactly what you don’t want. Van den Eertwegh: “If you take nature conservation seriously, those extractions in these zones should disappear.”

The Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management told Trouw that it scrapped the permit obligation “for several reasons,” including that it would “entail a lot of workload.” The Ministry said it scrapped the ban on groundwater extraction around nature reserves because it would not do sufficient justice to the “specific hydrological conditions” per area.

LTO told Trouw that it had no “formal, administrative consultation” with the Ministry on the water policy, but it did make suggestions. “That’s lobbying and, therefore, our job as an advocate.”

Without the permit requirement and extraction ban, Harbers’ letter to parliament contained hardly any concrete measures. Like with the nitrogen policy, the Minister leaves many decisions to local governments. Provinces, water boards, and municipalities can make tailor-made choices based on the situation in their area, is the idea.

According to Marleen van Rijswijk, professor of European and national water law at Utrecht University, that won’t work. “Provinces and water boards that want to stick with the old way or want to slow down can simply ignore the letter,” she said to the newspaper. “In these types of processes, the goals are often adjusted downwards. And the only one that has the time and money to participate in and exert influence in all those area processes is agriculture.”