News Drought
Drought will remain a (major) problem in 2019
Drought will also be a (major) problem in some areas in 2019, according to the Rijn en IJssel Water Board on 29 October. The precipitation deficit in their area is so great that the situation will not be able to recover this winter and next spring. At least that's the expectation.
According to The Rijn en IJssel Water Board will also start dry in the spring of 2019 (in their working area). This covers the Achterhoek, Liemers and part of the province of Overijssel. In total, this concerns 200.000 hectares between the Rhine and IJssel.
More extreme than in 1976
The shortage varies in this area from 500 to a maximum of 700 millimeters and that is also necessary for the groundwater level to return to normal values. The KNMI's national maps do not show such a shortage, but locally the situation is very different and even more extreme than in 1976.
According to the water board, the drought has consequences for people, nature and the agricultural sector. Water quality is declining and so is availability. "We expect that ground and surface water levels will not recover sufficiently," says dyke Hein Pieper. "This means that we will start the spring of 2019 with a backlog. This summer we have seen the consequences of that."
Irrigation ban continues
The extraction ban (irrigation ban) is still in force and will remain so; that never happened before in the winter months. In addition, there is a ban on irrigating with groundwater in 3 specific places. In the coming months, the Rijn en IJssel Water Board will be looking for solutions to the consequences with various parties in the area.
Recent rainfall has turned the grass green, but looks can be deceiving. The groundwater level is 1 meter lower, compared to the normal situation at this time of year. More than half of the waterways are dry. The Achterhoek, for example, is struggling with a 400 millimeters of precipitation deficit, compared to 50 millimeters in a normal year.
National problem
At the end of October, the Brabantse Delta Water Board again imposed a number of total abstraction bans. This concerns areas in Zundert, Rijsbergen and Etten-Leur. Other water boards also report that the situation remains worrisome and that water levels are historically low.
Niels van der Boom
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