process and thereafter drought resilience was firmly positioned on the agenda. Until
then “water shortage” was to a large extent seen in relation to the huge need for
freshwater in the polder areas in the west of the Netherlands, which regularly need
to be flushed to prevent intrusion of salinity. The manifesto a/o. stated that 45 % of
Dutch agricultural value is in fact produced on the higher grounds.
In response to an invited advice from the national Advisory Committee on Water
on freshwater supply, by 2013 the responsible Minister of Infrastructure and
Environment emphasized that the system that supplies and distributes the water
from source to user extends from the estuaries of big rivers all the way back to the
capillaries of the regional water system. The steering of the fresh water supply
should take place at all levels and scales: from the cross-boundary international
river catchments up and to the local scale of individual users of stakeholder
organizations. The main question is not at which level steering needs to take place,
but which responsibilities are at which level and whether between those levels there
is good collaboration.
In the Netherlands the implementation of drought policy is thus seen as a matter
of needed cooperation between various organizations, both public and private, at
various levels. This is in fact not just the case with drought policies but with other
water policies as well. Perhaps it is typically Dutch to interpret the necessary
coherence as a matter of cooperation rather than coordination by a powerful central
actor (compare OECD 2014). However, the complexity and dynamics of the water
system itself make a governance context that facilitates good cooperation by all
stakeholders with their various interests very valuable. Also there is a need for
productive boundary spanning between an inspiring long-term vision and
short-term opportunities to realize parts of it.
While the Netherlands has been recalibrating its water policies in an enormous
multi-stakeholder exercise called the Dutch Delta Programme, “fresh water supply”
has become one of the main issues (sub-programmes). Droughts and water scarcity
issues are not the same problem but they are actually highly related, while the water
scarcity issues typically become most urgent in periods of drought. In the partial
Delta programming on “Fresh water supply”, the present and future policies are
developed and implementation guided.
In the Delta Decision 2015 some attention is given to the problematic of the
“High Sandy Grounds”, the areas in the east and south of the Netherlands that are
often not able to receive water from the main water system, and thus depend on
rainfall and rain fed small rivers and creeks for fresh water supply. Drinking water
companies, food industries, other industries and farmers use often deep and shallow
groundwater for their production processes. It is recognized that these areas (including Twente) suffer from droughts for dozens of years and that climate change
can worsen these problems further, causing dry creeks and damages to human uses
and nature. The preferred strategy to combat these developments consists of the
following guidelines:
1. Keep the water longer in both the ground and the surface waters. No efforts will
be made to enable major water transport to these areas. In the short run, the
9 The Fragmentation-Coherence Paradox in Twente
183
then “water shortage” was to a large extent seen in relation to the huge need for
freshwater in the polder areas in the west of the Netherlands, which regularly need
to be flushed to prevent intrusion of salinity. The manifesto a/o. stated that 45 % of
Dutch agricultural value is in fact produced on the higher grounds.
In response to an invited advice from the national Advisory Committee on Water
on freshwater supply, by 2013 the responsible Minister of Infrastructure and
Environment emphasized that the system that supplies and distributes the water
from source to user extends from the estuaries of big rivers all the way back to the
capillaries of the regional water system. The steering of the fresh water supply
should take place at all levels and scales: from the cross-boundary international
river catchments up and to the local scale of individual users of stakeholder
organizations. The main question is not at which level steering needs to take place,
but which responsibilities are at which level and whether between those levels there
is good collaboration.
In the Netherlands the implementation of drought policy is thus seen as a matter
of needed cooperation between various organizations, both public and private, at
various levels. This is in fact not just the case with drought policies but with other
water policies as well. Perhaps it is typically Dutch to interpret the necessary
coherence as a matter of cooperation rather than coordination by a powerful central
actor (compare OECD 2014). However, the complexity and dynamics of the water
system itself make a governance context that facilitates good cooperation by all
stakeholders with their various interests very valuable. Also there is a need for
productive boundary spanning between an inspiring long-term vision and
short-term opportunities to realize parts of it.
While the Netherlands has been recalibrating its water policies in an enormous
multi-stakeholder exercise called the Dutch Delta Programme, “fresh water supply”
has become one of the main issues (sub-programmes). Droughts and water scarcity
issues are not the same problem but they are actually highly related, while the water
scarcity issues typically become most urgent in periods of drought. In the partial
Delta programming on “Fresh water supply”, the present and future policies are
developed and implementation guided.
In the Delta Decision 2015 some attention is given to the problematic of the
“High Sandy Grounds”, the areas in the east and south of the Netherlands that are
often not able to receive water from the main water system, and thus depend on
rainfall and rain fed small rivers and creeks for fresh water supply. Drinking water
companies, food industries, other industries and farmers use often deep and shallow
groundwater for their production processes. It is recognized that these areas (including Twente) suffer from droughts for dozens of years and that climate change
can worsen these problems further, causing dry creeks and damages to human uses
and nature. The preferred strategy to combat these developments consists of the
following guidelines:
1. Keep the water longer in both the ground and the surface waters. No efforts will
be made to enable major water transport to these areas. In the short run, the
9 The Fragmentation-Coherence Paradox in Twente
183