Drinking water abstractions from groundwater
Description
The map shows the location of the drinking water abstractions from groundwater in the Netherlands and the origin of the pumped water in the form of streams. The streams are routes that water particles travel through the subsurface. The color of the circuits indicates the travel time.
More detailed explanation
Approximately 60% of drinking water in the Netherlands is prepared from groundwater. The remaining drinking water is prepared from surface water. The choice of groundwater or surface water as a source of drinking water is often determined by the availability and quality of groundwater in the region concerned. Groundwater is considered an attractive source of drinking water because it is of constant quality and less than surface water is affected by human action. For the preparation of drinking water from groundwater, simple purification, consisting of aeration and so-called rapid filtration by means of sand beds, is often sufficient (Broers en Lijzen, 2013).
Several ecosystem services use the same water supply. The availability of sufficient, uncontaminated water is the basic condition for the use of groundwater as a source of drinking water. The capacity of this stock decreases due to drinking water abstractions, which also decreases for other ecosystem services, such as irrigation water, water for industry, water for water-dependent nature reserves and water supply and water quality of streams (Figures 1 and 2).
Other activities, which pollute water (and contaminants from the past), also put pressure on this ecosystem service. Some examples are: application of fertilisers and pesticides, infiltration of surface water, leakage of sewers and industrial activities where substances can infiltrate the subsurface (diffuse contaminants).
The principles of the policy have been laid down by the national government. The provinces specify this in their provincial plans and regulations.
Provinces are not obliged to establish a groundwater protection area around a extraction, but in practice this is almost always the case. This protection policy focuses on the prevention of new contaminants and not on tackling existing contaminants. The provincial policy focuses in particular on the prevention of pollution from urban and industrial sources and calamities and not so much on regular agricultural activities. In the current policy, for example, there are no additional restrictions on the spreading of manure. Specific agreements have sometimes been made for the use of pesticides at provincial, sometimes local level (Vander Grift en Broers, 2005, Van den Brink et al. 2008).
In principle, the Soil Protection Act (Wbb) regulates the prevention of contaminants and the treatment of soil contaminants by their causes. However, in current practice, the law does not affect contaminants from regular agricultural activities. Recently (March 2013), however, the council of mayor and aldermen of Doetinchem decided to impose a penalty payment for infringement of Article 13 of the Wbb by a farmer due to contamination by manure on his own property (Van der Veen and Hoekstra, 2014).
From 2000, the Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC) and the Groundwater Directive (2006/118/EC) also apply to the protection of water bodies for human consumption. For the Water Framework Directive, area files have been drawn up for all vulnerable drinking water abstractions, describing the state and possible threats to the extraction. If this results in measures (approach or monitoring), these will be recorded in the upcoming river basin management plans.
Drinking water itself is regulated by the European Drinking Water Directive (98/83/EC). This has been implemented in the Netherlands in the Drinking Water Act, the Drinking Water Decree and the Drinking Water Regulation (all: 2011).
The origin of water for drinking water abstractions is calculated with the NHI version 3.0 (stationary calculation).
Resources
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https://data.rivm.nl/geo/ank/wms?request=GetCapabilities |
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https://data.rivm.nl/data/ank/DANK006_drinkwater.zip |