Informative evening for HHNK’s Freshwater Availability Programme

On Thursday, 11 September, the water authority Hoogheemraadschap Hollands Noorderkwartier (HHNK) held an information evening as part of the public inspection period for the Freshwater Availability Programme Plan. The respective programme plan is currently in its formal adoption process, and content-wise outlines the key issue-areas and ambitions, the intended approach, and the priority actions for safeguarding freshwater availability over the next eight years.

This formal review process enables citizens to exercise their right to inspect and comment on the water authority’s implementation plans. It is because of this, therefore, that HHNK organised an information session where residents and other interested parties could gather background information, ask questions, and form a clearer understanding of the proposals. HHNK aims at facilitating residents’ right to inspect and comment on the water authority’s implementation plans.

Historically shared waterways

Dutch water authorities such as HHNK are among the oldest democratic institutions, with their origins dating back to the 13th century when local communities sought collective solutions for water management and flood protection. Today, the governmental authorities operate under a democratically elected general board of 30 members, re-chosen every four years to represent regional residents via political parties. Consequently, the general board chooses the consequential role of the executive board, consisting of the dike-reeve (chairperson) and five hoogheemraden (deputies). This smaller group of people is responsible for day-to-day management, such as implementing policy and preparing meetings and reports to the general board. From this head structure, the rest of the governmental body ramifies into specialised departments that bring together experts such as data analysts or policy makers, forming a ferry between water, society, and politics.

Altogether, within this governmental structure, the water authorities strive to keep policy and operational decisions both representative and accountable. These foundations permeate at HHNK’s activities and become visible in events such as the 11 September information evening.

Freshwater availability: Balancing water supply and demand

The draft programme sets out how HHNK aims to prepare the regional water system and its inhabitants for increasing pressure on freshwater resources. Freshwater availability, its balance between supply and demand, is under strain from multiple drivers, including rising salinity caused by sea-level rise. To prevent the risk of future water shortages from increasing, the task facing Hollands Noorderkwartier amounts to roughly 45 % of the current water demand during the driest period. This task consists of three main aspects, each accounting for about an equal share: maintaining water levels within the water system, supplying agriculture for irrigation and combating salinisation, and meeting new water demands arising in particular from the potential rewetting of peat meadow areas.

HHNK’s overarching ambition is therefore to ensure that, by 2050, the region will be resilient to water scarcity, especially in increasing periods of droughts as clearly experienced in the last summers. The authority has committed to maintaining the current balance in the water system and to informing policies and measures for the major water users through timely, structured, and participatory bundled actions. For a systematic approach, the programme divides itself into four key themes:

Groundwater resources
Salinisation
Peatland areas
Water supply and demand

Everyone was welcome to attend the event, which took place in Heerhugowaard. The room streamed full of locals, interested residents and farmers, who share and represent the strong concern for freshwater and its links to land use, crop production, and livestock. Questions arose about the implications of future developments and the uncertainties they bring. These were taken up by the water authority, and through a presentation, programme manager Cecilia van Dalen outlined the complex challenges and the plans to address them. She emphasised that “the programme aims to postpone water shortages as long as possible” and that HHNK cannot achieve this without the active involvement of all concerned and affected parties. After the general presentation, the Freshwater Availability team, subject-matter experts for each theme, facilitated thematic tables where participants could seek clarification on the programme’s details.

Clara Luxardo, case study leader of the RETOUCH Nexus project and researcher at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, attended the information evening. Here, she observed how administrative–participatory processes occur in the early stages of sensitive water policy decisions. To her, the event presented the democratic values of a water authority manifested in practice, opening its doors and creating spaces to reach out beyond its own office walls. Sustainable and resilient water governance is not a task that comes without the other.