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High water and persistent rain can cause nuisance – as we did in Leerdam saw this weekend – but could it also be an opportunity? In other places in the Netherlands, a lot of rain is convenient. For example in the east of the country and in Brabant. There are areas that, despite full ditches, streams and puddles, still suffer from a low groundwater level.
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In the Maashorst nature reserve near the Brabant village of Nistelrode, the weirs in the streams and ditches are high to retain as much rainwater as possible. Jos Kruit, drought coordinator at the Aa en Maas water board, explains that this gives the water the opportunity to slowly penetrate into the soil. “Groundwater is the most important water resource we have,” says Kruit.
Kruit is happy with the many rain showers of recent times. But a lot of rain is needed to compensate for the precipitation deficit that occurred last summer and to restore the groundwater to a good level. “Four weeks ago we still had very low water levels, due to that dry summer.”
Drought is a particular problem in areas with high sandy soils: Brabant, Limburg, Overijssel. There is little or no water supply from rivers and the water boards are largely dependent on rainwater to replenish the groundwater level:
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Water retention is currently not an option at the Rivierenland water board. Spokesman Freek Jochems: “All capacity to collect water is currently full. Too full, as you have seen. The water levels in the Linge and other rivers in our area are so high, we have to drain that water.” says Jochems.
Even now that the danger of flooding has passed, pumps and pumping stations continue to work hard to pump out water. “We have to make room, because you don’t know how much it will rain,” says Jochems.
Mathieu Geringen of the Rivierenland water board explained on Saturday, when the water was at its highest, how the water was pumped away:
Threat of floods along Linge: ‘We are trying to distribute the water’
Can the collection capacity not be increased by, for example, constructing more buffers, reservoirs or basins? According to Jochems, these types of water storage are a drop in the ocean. If you want to retain enough water to get through a dry summer, you would have to flood large areas such as polders. “But yes, we also have a lack of space in the Netherlands and that would be at the expense of, for example, building or agricultural land”.
What does make a difference is raising the groundwater level and the water level. So the rivers, and from there the streams, puddles and ditches. “We used to keep the water level lower in the winter than now. But it’s a balancing act, because you also have to keep an eye on safety, so choose to drain.”
In the meantime, the groundwater levels in Brabant are moving in the right direction. “It looks good, yes,” says Kruit. Or does that mean that they are set in a dry summer? Kruit: “No, you don’t have to. Last year we had a wet February, but not a drop of water fell in March and it was warm and sunny. So we still had a problem.”
