News Drought
Irrigation ban for parts of West Brabant
The Brabantse Delta water board introduced its first abstraction ban for 3 on Monday 2019 June. Farmers are not allowed to extract surface water from various ditches and streams.
A number of areas managed by the Brabantse Delta water board will have to deal with a ban on the abstraction of surface water, the water board says. know† It is also not the first irrigation ban in the province. At the beginning of April, the De Dommel water board already proposed a watering ban for grassland.
many municipalities
The ban applies to all types of surface water irrigation. This concerns the river basins in the border area of Central and West Brabant; in the municipalities of Alphen-Chaam, Gilze-Rijen and Zundert, among others. Steenbergen, Bergen op Zoom and Roosendaal will also have to deal with a ban in the De Wouwse Gronden catchment area. A list with all areas can be found on the website of the water board.
The main reason for the abstraction ban is the consequences of the drought in 2018 and the subsequent dry spring. A ban is therefore now being imposed to protect the waterways. To prevent desiccation, the water is retained as much as possible. This has been the case since last year. One of the measures is that farmers on high sandy soils may build their own thresholds in ditches to retain water.
More research
The water board also reports that more research is needed into the establishment and lifting of the abstraction bans. According to them, for example, the intake of water from rivers in polder areas should also be considered. Among other things, the division between nature, agriculture and other purposes must be improved. However, this is being addressed nationally.
Niels van der Boom
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