According to forecasts, this afternoon will see as much rain fall locally in just a few hours as normally falls in a month. That’s good news after the recent drought. But how can we ensure that the water doesn’t cause any problems and that as much of it as possible can be retained for future dry periods?
TV segment and article by Ulrike Nagel.
“A blessing,” is how Wim Oskam describes the rain. He’s a fruit grower in Werkhoven and has been longing for rain for weeks. “As long as it doesn’t come down too hard, we’re extremely satisfied.” Concerns about the drought have been mounting in recent weeks. The same goes for his brother Co Oskam, a crop farmer in Werkhoven. “I’m really happy about this afternoon’s rain, because I’ve had to spray the fields myself these past few weeks. And that’s expensive—it costs about 50 to 60 euros an hour, so you can do the math.”
Drought
It’s been bone-dry for weeks. This has been a challenge for farmers, for example, but nature has also suffered greatly as a result. In part of the region, a watering ban has even been in effect since last week, though the problems in our province are much less severe than elsewhere in the country, says Marc Wessels of the Stichtse Rijnlanden Water Board. ““Even if it stays dry for an extended period, we can still draw enough water from the Lek and the Amsterdam-Rhine Canal, for example. A withdrawal ban is rarely imposed here because of the major rivers that surround us.” Still, rain is very welcome here as well. Since a significant amount of precipitation is expected, authorities are closely monitoring the situation to ensure the water doesn’t cause any problems. But so far, everything is going well, according to the water boards. “And if there really is too much water, we have a few water storage areas, for example near Montfoort and along the Grecht. We can let those fill up. But we actually only do that in emergency situations, and I don’t expect that to happen this afternoon. Besides, it’s breeding season, so we can’t just let those parts of the polder—which function as a sort of bathtub—flood.”
Water storage basins
Solutions like those ‘bathtubs’ don’t just help when there’s too much rain; they can also be the solution during periods of drought. On the eastern side of the region, near Amerongen and Rhenen, for example. The terrain there is hilly, and water simply doesn’t flow uphill. So they don’t benefit much from the water supply from rivers and have to rely on rainwater. The water board, together with conservation organizations, is therefore exploring ways to intelligently retain the rainwater that falls there. “That’s a very complex process,” says Wessels.
They retain that water in water storage basins. As mentioned, these work like a kind of bathtub, explains Bernoe Meier of the Vallei en Veluwe Water Board. “The water simply stays in there. Some of it evaporates, but the surrounding soil naturally uses that water when it’s dry again for a while. That way, the water from the storage reservoir is used directly by the surrounding area.”
This is already happening, among other places, north of Amersfoort. “The weirs are already closed, and we’re keeping them that way, because that allows us to collect and store as much water as possible. This way, the water storage reservoirs in our region can fill up.”
Storing Water Themselves
Meanwhile, farmers are also looking for solutions on their own. Sometimes, water boards offer subsidies that allow farmers to build their own weirs so they can store water along the edges of their fields. In Werkhoven, that’s not an option, says Co Oskam. The crop farmer is busy this afternoon spraying his potatoes to protect them from disease. “I have to hurry, because the rain is about to start.”
Storing water on his own isn’t an option for the farmer. “We already had 22 mm of rain yesterday; if I wanted to store that, I’d need to have 1,500 cubic meters of space available somewhere. That’s too much.” Drainage is also a solution, by the way. If ditches overflow, the excess water flows directly into the drainage pipes and can then be diverted to polders and fields.
So now, let’s just enjoy the rain. Or should Co and Wim, like the water boards, take measures to prevent flooding? “I’m just going to sit inside and relax,” says Wim with a laugh. “And it’s not likely to get too wet anyway, because we have plenty of buffers in the area. The water board handles it well; the ditches have been made deeper and wider, so we’ve got that covered.” It used to be different. “We once had an orchard here that was situated in a small basin. If it’s under water for three days, the trees will die. But that’s only happened once in 60 years. ‘It’ll be all right,’ my father always said. And it really is.”
