drinking water

Dutch development bank FMO is contributing to the violation of basic human rights on palm oil plantations in Congo through its funding of palm oil company Feronia, Trouw reports based on a study by Human Rights Watch. On the plantations, underpaid workers are exposed to toxic pesticides and chemically contaminated drinking water, according to the researchers.

Human Rights Watch spent a year researching the practices of Feronia. FMO is one of four development banks that fund the company.

The quality of the Netherlands' drinking water sources is at serious risk, partly due to pollution with chemical substances, medicine residues and manure, according to a study by KWR, the knowledge institute for the drinking water sector. The drinking water companies call for immediate intervention, AD reports.

The consumption of drinking water in the Netherlands is increasing, while collecting drinking water is becoming increasingly difficult due to dryer conditions, drinking water company Vitens warned on Wednesday. According to the company, the demand for water is growing too strongly and that needs to change, NU.nl reports.

The Netherlands is "blind to drought" according to researcher Henny van Lanen of Wageningen University. The country needs to build up larger reserves of fresh water to prevent drinking water running out during extreme droughts, multiple experts warn, Het Parool reports.

"As a low lying country with large rivers, we are always working on preventing wetness. That explains why we are now so surprised by the drought", Van Lanen said to the newspaper. "Dutch water policy is very conservative: the rest of Europe has been arming itself against drought for much longer."

The first plane carrying evacuees from Sint Maarten is on its way back to the Netherlands. The air force KDC-10 plane is expected to land at Eindhoven air base at around 3:30 p.m., Omroep Brabant reports. The evacuees were previously only taken as far as Curacao.

Traces of the potentially carcinogenic substance GenX were found in the tap water of The Hague, Zoetermeer and Leiden, water company Dunea announced on Tuesday. The company stresses that the concentrations are very low and that the drinking water is still safe, AD reports.

Thousands of residents in the Gelderland municipalities of Doesburrg, Arnhem, Rheden and Rijnwaarden are advised to boil their tap water before drinking it, following a persistent fault in the water system. Showering and washing with the water is safe, the Telegraaf reports.

A poisonous pesticide was discovered in the Maas river, the source of tap water to 1.3 million people in the west of Zuid-Holland, drinking water company Dunea announced on Monday. Dunea immediately stopped taking water from the Maas and switched the water intake to the Lek river until the problem is resolved.