Tap water will be more expensive for many Dutch households next year
Tap water will become more expensive for people living in parts of Zuid-Holland, Noord-Holland, and Drenthe next year. Oasen, Dunea, PWN, and WMD, the drinking water companies that supply these areas, announced rate hikes. Rates for the other parts of the Netherlands will be announced next week, RTL Nieuws reports.
Next year, Oasen will charge €1.67 per cubic meter of water, up from €1.62. Dunea’s rate is rising from €1.46 to €1.58, PWN’s from €1.92 to €1.98, and WMD’s from €1.06 to €1.14.
Despite these increases, Amsterdam residents should save between €10 and €12 on their water bills next year, alderman Melanie van der Horst announced. The Amsterdam Waternet had some windfalls this year, allowing for once-off price reductions, AT5 reported. How much cheaper the bill will turn out depends on the size of the household and the water use.
According to Patricia van der Linden of Vewin, the industry association of drinking water companies, tap water is more expensive because water sources are increasingly polluted. More funding is also needed to meet the rising demand and to prepare for droughts or extreme rainfall due to climate change.
The Netherlands has among the most polluted water in Europe and is not even close to meeting the European requirements for 2027. “The Netherlands is situated at a low altitude,” Van der Linden explained to RTL Nieuws. “Some of the pollution comes from abroad in the rivers. And Dutch industry is also allowed ot discharge into rivers. Moreover, we are a small but densely populated country with many people, activities, and interests.”
Despite this, the Dutch drinking water quality is perfectly fine. But that is because drinking water companies do more and more to get it that way. “Drinking water companies have to build additional treatment plants, adding steps to the purification process,” Van der Linden said. She mentioned PFAS, a collection of man-made substances used in many products like cosmetics, food packaging, and pans. These substances, some of which are carcinogenic, are notoriously difficult to break down or catch.
Another issue is the increase in pharmaceutical residues in the water due to the aging population. These residues also end up in surface water via the sewage. According to Van den Linden, it would help if hotspots like hospitals contributed by purifying wastewater on site or having patients urinate into urine bags and disposing of it with the residual waste. “But interventions can also be made earlier in the chain. For example, by having the pharmaceutical industry consider how a drug can be made less harmful if it ends up in water.”
