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Management
Integrated
Management
Integrated
From Concepts to Good Practice
Case Study 4
The Delfland Basin and Delfland Water Board, The Netherlands
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Acknowledgments
This Briefing Note Series was prepared by Peter Mil-
lington, consultant, previously Director-General of the
New South Wales Department of Water Resources and
Commissioner on the Murray-Darling Basin Commission,
Australia; Douglas Olson, World Bank Principal Water
Resources Engineer and Task Manager for this Briefing
Note Series; and Shelley McMillan, World Bank Water
Resources Specialist.
Guy Alaerts (Lead Water Resources Specialist) and
Claudia Sadoff (Lead Economist) of the World Bank
provided valuable inputs.
The authors thank the following specialists for reviewing
the Notes: Bruce Hooper and Pieter Huisman (consul-
tants); Vahid Alavian, Inger Anderson, Rita Cestti Jean
Foerster, Nagaraja Harshadeep, Tracy Hart, Karin Kemper,
Barbara Miller, Salman Salman, Ashok Subramanian, and
Mei Xie (World Bank staff).
The authors are also deeply grateful to the Bank-Nether-
lands Water Partnership Program (BNWPP) for support-
ing the production of this Series.
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Name of Organization: The Delfland Water Board
History of Establishment:
Floris V, Duke of Holland, recognized the Delfland Water
Board as the competent regional water authority in
1289. The board acquired the right to supervise and
control the construction and maintenance of the dikes
and watercourses, and was of higher rank than the
local shires. As soil subsidence continued, it became
necessary to create inner embankments, called polders,
from which surplus water was removed using windmills.
Every polder also acquired its own board. However, the
Delfland Water Board remained responsible for flood de-
fenses against storm surges and river floods, as well as
the boezem, the intermediate storage area between the
polders and the sea or river. Extensive reorganization in
1976 terminated the 59 polder water boards, and their
functions were taken over by the Delfland Board. The
province of South-Holland made Delfland responsible for
water quality management in 1974.
1
2
Figure 4.1. The Delfland Water Board Area
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1. Flooding
2. Drainage, flushing, and water supply
3. Pollution
Monks and farmers began to cultivate the land of Delfland
in the 11th century and it became a flourishing agricultural
area. As a result of cultivation, the soil began to subside.
Dikes needed to be built to protect life, cattle, and land
against flooding. Faced with continued regional flooding
since the 13th century, which hampered effective water
management, local communities began to elect representa-
tives for meetings to discuss and agree upon approaches
to flood defense and other related regional water manage-
ment issues. This led to the establishment of the Delfland
Water Board. Later, the Delfland Water Board also became
responsible for providing the water to flush the polders to
prevent salinization by brackish seepage. It also expanded
to serve agricultural, industrial, recreational, and other
purposes In the 1970s the Provincial Council charged
Delfland with combating water pollution.
Main Water Management Concerns:
Delfland has a small catchment area of 41,000 ha and is
densely populated, with 3,050 inhabitants/km2. It com-
prises 20 municipalities, including The Hague and large
parts of Rotterdam (see figure 4.1).
The water balance of Delfland for an average year:
Inflow
Precipitation 336.106 m3
Seepage 19.106 m3
Input for water supply in dry periods 42.106 m3
and flushing of the polders
Total 397.106 m3
Outflow
Evapotranspiration 245.106 m3
Discharge by pumping 152.106 m3
1,250,000
The Gross Regional Product per capita is approximately
US$36,940 in 2003.
Various services, small industries, glass house horticulture,
cattle, and recreation. More than 40,000 companies.
Area:
River Basin Flow:
Population:
Economy:
Main Economic Activities:
Basin Characteristics
4Mature autonomous, self-financing river basin organization. This RBO is an agency-type with regulatory functions, but
is also responsible for implementing works, notably wastewater treatment. The election system for the Delfland Water
Board was and still is based on the principle of “interest-payment-say.” The extent of an individual’s interest (size of
land) governs the tax payable by him or her to cover water management costs, as well as the level of participation in
the institution. The water boards, with their unique bottom-up election system, are the oldest democratic institution in
the Netherlands.
Type of Organization:
Figure 4.2. The Water-related Planning Structure in the Netherlands
Spatialplanning
National document on
spatial planning
Regional spatial plan
Local land use plan
Water management
National document on water
Provincial policy document
on water
Management plan for regional and local waters
Environmental protection
National environment policy plan
Provincial environment policy plan
Municipal sewerage plan
Nature conservation
National nature
policy plan
Structure scheme nature and landscape
Municipal environment programme
Water management plan for state
managed waters
National environmentprogramme
Structure scheme nature and landscape
Provincial environment programme
State
Province
Water board and municipality
Governing Level Policy Fields Character of the Plan
Strategic
Operational
Strategic
Operational
Operational
Harmonization obliged by law
Legal obligation to draft plan according to instructions of higher government
The only plan binding citizens
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1. Conceptual and Institutional Issues
The Netherlands’ Constitution charges Government and
Parliament to define the procedural rules for the creation
and termination of water boards by provincial by-law. The
Water Board Act of 1992 made the constitutional direc-
tives concrete in order to establish integrated (sub)river
basin management organizations. The municipality is
responsible for the sewerage system and for the collec-
tion of urban wastewater. Regional wastewater treatment
and water quality control of the regional surface waters
rest with the water board.
The current Dutch legislation prescribes periodic updat-
ing of the water policy, as well as its harmonization with
related policy fields. The legally binding harmonization
system is described in the framework of the Water
Management Act of 1989 (see figure 4.2).
2. Systems for Water-related Data
Since its creation in 1289, the Delfland Water Board has
collected a lot of data. The early data primarily concen-
trated on size of the participating drainage areas, water
levels, and dike conditions. Later, adjacent drainage
conditions were also monitored to ensure that sufficient
space was available to store water and discharge water at
low sea and river levels, to operate the draining windmills,
and to mitigate reclamation activities.
Until 1950, the water management data collected mainly
concerned water quantity volumes and chloride concen-
trations. Since then, all water relevant data, particularly
the water health parameters for water supply, recreation,
and nature areas, are monitored and summarized in
yearly reports. The summarized data are available on the
website of the Delfland Water Board: www.hhdelfland.nl.
This website also provides some information about the
various modeling systems used to simulate the hydrologic
and hydraulic changes in land and water use. There is also
a Delfland information help desk.
53. Basin-wide Policies and Strategies
The European Union has defined many policies and
strategies on water, including the conditions for urban
wastewater treatment. The 2000 Water Framework
Directive aims at an integrated approach to the policies
and strategies in order to protect the aquatic ecosystems,
ensure the sustainable use of water resources, further
reduce pollution, and mitigate the impacts of flood and
droughts. These goals are to be achieved stepwise from
2003 to 2027. Since the 1980s, arrangements for flood
control and rehabilitation of aquatic ecosystems have
been convened between the riparian states of the Rhine
and Meuse Basins.
Delfland is a small sub-basin in the Rhine delta. The
national agency Rijkswaterstaat, part of the Ministry
of Transport, Public Works, and Water Management, is
responsible for sharing and managing the Rhine water in
dry periods according to the policy detailed in the
Second Policy Document on Water (1985). In general,
water supply for agricultural interests is the highest
priority; navigation is the second. However at times,
ecological interests are given priority over agriculture,
navigation, cooling for energy production, recreation, and
other uses.
Maintaining the water levels in the polders and boezems
has the highest priority in all water boards — so much so
that sometimes when no freshwater is available, brackish
water is incorporated to prevent irreversible subsidence.
The Delfland Water Board grants licenses to extract, use,
and discharge water. A license is required for discharges
>100m3/hour and extraction >20m3/hour. Discharges or
extractions >10m3/hour must be reported to the Daily
Board. Besides these quantitative limits, every discharge
of contaminated water requires a license in which the
discharge conditions are prescribed, as well the need for
self-monitoring by the licensee. Water board officials
supervise the license conditions and the self-monitoring.
6 Charging for water resources management in the Neth-
erlands is based on the principle “interest-payment-say”
and its mirror, “polluter/user pays,” for local and regional
water management services. These charges are based on
the full cost recovery principle. For some purposes, such
as drinking water consumption, an additional tax is levied
by the national government in an attempt to limit water
use. Some 30 percent of the total water management
costs is financed from the national budget. The remaining
70 percent is covered by the users: residents, homeown-
ers and landowners, and polluting companies.
4. Participation and Communication
Voters vote for a new water board assembly every four
years. About 20 to 30 percent of the empowered voters
exercise their right to vote. Direct information to the
stakeholders is provided in the yearly assessment of
the water board taxes. If necessary, stakeholders are
informed about activities and projects in newspapers
and leaflets and the procedure to lodge against such
intentions. Stakeholders can legally require additional
information and gain access to additional documentation.
Stakeholders can complain against the intentions and
decisions of the water board and have the right to appeal
against decisions to higher authorities. The final appeal is
with the European Court.
5. Awareness Raising
This remains a very complicated issue, particularly for
events like extreme storm surges and river floods, as
it leads to the safety paradox; the higher the safety
standard, the less likely it is that a dangerous event will
take place and the greater the risk that dangers will be
more and more trivialized. Awareness-raising regarding
the “health of the river basin” is somewhat easier. Dutch
water boards have specially educated and trained staff
members to communicate with individuals, schools, pres-
sure groups, and others. These staff members often teach
3. Basin-wide Policies and Strategies
The European Union has defined many policies and
strategies on water, including the conditions for urban
wastewater treatment. The 2000 Water Framework
Directive aims at an integrated approach to the policies
and strategies in order to protect the aquatic ecosystems,
ensure the sustainable use of water resources, further
reduce pollution, and mitigate the impacts of flood and
droughts. These goals are to be achieved stepwise from
2003 to 2027. Since the 1980s, arrangements for flood
control and rehabilitation of aquatic ecosystems have
been convened between the riparian states of the Rhine
and Meuse Basins.
Delfland is a small sub-basin in the Rhine delta. The
national agency Rijkswaterstaat, part of the Ministry
of Transport, Public Works, and Water Management, is
responsible for sharing and managing the Rhine water in
dry periods according to the policy detailed in the
Second Policy Document on Water (1985). In general,
water supply for agricultural interests is the highest
priority; navigation is the second. However at times,
ecological interests are given priority over agriculture,
navigation, cooling for energy production, recreation, and
other uses.
Maintaining the water levels in the polders and boezems
has the highest priority in all water boards — so much so
that sometimes when no freshwater is available, brackish
water is incorporated to prevent irreversible subsidence.
The Delfland Water Board grants licenses to extract, use,
and discharge water. A license is required for discharges
>100m3/hour and extraction >20m3/hour. Discharges or
extractions >10m3/hour must be reported to the daily
board. Besides these quantitative limits, every discharge
of contaminated water requires a license in which the
discharge conditions are prescribed, as well the need for
self-monitoring by the licensee. Water board officials
supervise the license conditions and the self-monitoring.
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7
water management issues in schools. In general, the in-
formation relating to water in schools is placed in a wider
context. For example, global warming, its causes, and its
consequences on air, water, and soil quality are discussed
together. The vulnerability of the Netherlands to storm
surges and river floods is always a primary subject.
6. Monitoring and Assessing Sustainability
The conditions to achieve sustainability are set by the
national and international frameworks, objectives, and con-
ditions for river basin development. In the light of climate
change and its consequences, monitoring, regular status
reports, and mutual benchmarking — in the Rhine, Meuse,
and other EU river basins, as well as other basins world-
wide — are the “basin sustainable performance indicators.”
8Today, the “interest-payment-say” approach to the water
boards’ activities has broadened. Size of land is still a
recognized interest. However, other stakeholders, includ-
ing homeowners, inhabitants, industries, and companies
have interests in the activities of the water boards. They
also want proper flood defenses against storm surges
and river floods, as well as adequate water management:
draining in wet periods and supply during droughts. These
stakeholders pay the water board tax according to legally
established interest criteria. The water boards are also
responsible for wastewater treatment in their territory.
As the inhabitants, companies, and industries have a vest-
ed interest, they pay for the water quality activities of this
institution. The ruling “polluter pays” principle is mirrored
in the “interest-payment-say” concept by participation of
representatives of inhabitants, companies, and industries
in the water boards. The distribution of seats on the water
boards to cover the concerned categories of landowners,
homeowners, inhabitants, and business is constitutionally
defined by the Province, under approval of the national
government (figure 4. 3).
Tasks of the Organization and Staff Complement:
Representation on the Boards:
Inhabitants 19
Landowners 5
Owners of houses and buildings 13
Users of business facilities 5
Total seats 42
Staff members 370
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Figure 4.3. Composition of the Delfland Water Board
9
DAILY BOARD
General Assembly
Chairman Local Inhabitants (19) Landowners (5)
Owners of houses and buildings (13) Business Users (5)
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All rights reservedFirst printing February 2006
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