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In theNetherlands, awater board,water council orwater authority (Dutch:waterschap or heemraadschap) is a regional governing body solely charged with the management ofsurface water in the environment. Water boards are independent of administrative governing bodies like provinces and municipalities. In general, they are responsible for managing rivers and canals, issues with the flow of watercourses and drainage issues, water collection, flood and erosion prevention and provision of potable water. They managepolder systems, water levels, water barriers andlocks, enforcements, water quality andsewage treatment in their respective regions. The concept of a coordinating "High Water Authority" (Hoogheemraadschap) originated in what now is the province ofSouth Holland in the 12th century.
Since the settlement of the Netherlands, large parts of the land have been constantly threatened by rivers and the sea. Fertile soil and peatlands often were located near rivers, thus engineering water courses was part of daily life for farmers, landowners and peat extractors. Rivers and canals were also important ways for transportation that had to be dug and kept navigable.
Ancient Roman settlements from 50 - 350 AD built harbours, riverside enforcements, waterdraining canals, dikes and mounds. From the year 1000 onward, continuing problems in water management in wide areas along theRhine river betweenUtrecht and theNorth Sea caused farmers, landowners and civilians with administrative responsibilities to collaborate. Around 1122 in the area aroundWijk bij Duurstede, southeast ofUtrecht, a collaborative water household organisation was founded to build and maintain a dam in the Rhine.[1] InFriesland in the 12th century the right to build a sea dike was granted, and in the area aroundLeiden a water household managing collaboration was established.
Nowadays around 26 percent of the Netherlands' surface is at or belowmean sea level[2] and several branches of theRhine-Meuse-Scheldt delta run through this relatively small country. Historically there always was a good deal of coastal and riverflooding.Flood control in the Netherlands is a national policy priority, since about two-thirds of the country is vulnerable to flooding and the whole country is densely populated. Natural and man-made sand dunes along the sea coast, man-madedikes, dams andfloodgates, among which theDelta Works, (Dutch:Deltawerken) provide defense against high-tide andstorm surges from the sea and water overflow from the rivers. River dikes prevent flooding of land by the major riversRhine andMeuse, while a system of drainage ditches, canals andpumping stations (historically:windmills) keep the low-lying parts available for habitation and agriculture. Water councils are regional governing bodies organised along a specific water-household system, responsible for maintenance and improvement of the system. All organisations and their works are financed by citizens and companies based in the Netherlands, through various taxes.
The methodical organisation of surface water household management emerged as lowlands were drained for agriculture. Dikes and water control structures were built and maintained by those directly benefiting from them, mostly farmers and landowners. As the structures got more extensive and complex, councils were formed by people with a common interest in controlling the water levels of their land. The first water councils were formed in the 12th century, often controlling a single polder or dike.
As these collaborative groups became better organised, thecounts of Holland began granting charters to the boards. In 1255 a cooperating group of water boards in theOld Rhine area was appointed byCount William II ofHolland andZeeland to become central coordinator of all water course works in the area under the name "High Water Council", in DutchHoogheemraadschap. Early works were the building of draining canals around the city of Leiden. From 1408 on, with the first at Zoeterwoude,wind-operated machines (windmills) are being installed along the Old Rhine, to pump water from the lowlands into the river and drainage canals.[3]
Water councils were also granted the right to constitutebylaws. The ever-present threat of loss of life, land, animals and goods required short lines of communication between authorities and the people who did design, build and maintain the infrastructure. The threat of flooding in aheerlijkheid was dealt with by authorities organised around a certain water household system and water boards were chaired by the local nobility. Water boards were set up to maintain integrity of water drainage and defences around localpolders, to maintain waterways inside polders and to control various water levels in and outside local polders. The mandate of these water boards (which remains largely unchanged) was maintenance of dikes, dunes and waterways (and roads too, in several municipalities), control of water level and quality of all surface water (including punishment of polluters). The original water boards varied much in organisation, power and area they managed. The differences were often caused by different circumstances, whether they had to defend a sea dike against a storm surge or keep water level in a polder within bounds.Hoogheemraadschappen were coordinating bodies, responsible for protecting the land against the sea and for regulating water levels of various canals and lakes into which water was pumped frompolders andwaterschappen.
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Dikes were maintained by individuals who benefited from their existence, every farmer was designated a part of a dike to maintain, with reviews by the water board directors. The old rule was "Whom the water harms stops the water" (Dutch:Wie het water deert, die het water keert). This meant that those living at the dike had to pay and care for it. Those people could go bankrupt from having to repair a breached dike. Those living further inland often refused to pay for or assist upkeep of dikes, even though they were just as much affected by floods. This system led to haphazard maintenance and it is believed that many floods would be prevented or mitigated if dikes had been maintained within another governing and financing system.[4]
Punishments meted out by water boards were fines for misdemeanors such as emptying waste in the nearest canal; according to various historical documents, the death penalty was used more than once for serious offenders who threatened dike safety or water quality.[5]
In the 17th century there were many of these independent local bodies levying their own taxes and administering justice. This early form of local government played a role in the development of a political system in the Netherlands that was decentralised and dependent on communal cooperation. Widespread experience with decentralized government was a factor in the formation of theDutch Republic in the 16th and 17th centuries.[6]
The mandate ofRijkswaterstaat (English: Directorate General for Public Works and Water Management), established in 1798 under French rule, was to centralise water control in the Netherlands. Local water boards refused to give up their autonomy however, so Rijkswaterstaat ended up working alongside the local water boards. Today Rijkswaterstaat has responsibility for major water control structures and other infrastructure like bike- and motorways.
By 1850 there were about 3,500 water boards in the country.[7] In modern times water boards merged as they dealt with joint (and sometimes conflicting) interests. Mergers eventually reduced the number to 25 water boards in 2011.[8]
The tasks of water boards remain basically unchanged. They belong to the historically grown structure of governing bodies and are one of the oldest democratic institutions in the Netherlands. Dutch water boards have their owncoat of arms, a colourful reminder of their importance in Dutch governing. The historic buildings that used to house the water boards, calledgemeenlandshuis orwaterschaphuis, can be found at the heart of many Dutch towns.
Historically, the namehoogheemraadschap was used for a large area comprising a number of smallerwaterschappen within its jurisdiction.[9]Hoogheemraadschap was also traditionally the word used for water boards located along theRijn and theVecht.[10]
The termwaterschap refers to the jurisdiction or to the administrative body. This also applies tohoogheemraadschap. In Dutch, the plural ofwaterschap iswaterschappen. The plural ofhoogheemraadschap ishoogheemraadschappen. In present-day usage, the official term iswaterschap. However, the wordhoogheemraadschap is still used by some Dutch water boards for historical reasons or when severalwaterschappen are grouped together into a larger regional body.
Officially there is no difference between ahoogheemraadschap and awaterschap. The Water Board Act (Waterschapswet), the Dutch statute that governs regional water authorities, only uses the wordwaterschap.[11] A Dutch water board that still useshoogheemraadschap in its name (e.g. theHoogheemraadschap van Delfland) may have chosen to do so becausehoogheemraadschap was part of the historical name. However, awaterschap that styles itself as ahoogheemraadschap no longer has its traditional structure with subordinatewaterschappen, as these have been merged into thehoogheemraadschap itself.[12] Some water boards chose the namehoogheemraadschap after a merger of a number ofwaterschappen into a larger one (e.g.Hoogheemraadschap De Stichtse Rijnlanden). When used in this sense, the wordhoogheemraadschap refers to a large regionalwaterschap.
When referring to the administrative body, English translations ofwaterschap are "water board", "water council", "water control board", "district water board" or "regional water authority", the last word being recently adopted by the water boards as a preferred English translation on grounds that it is less ambiguous.[citation needed] The jurisdiction of a Dutch regional water authority is generally referred to as the "water board district" or "regional water authority district". These translations also apply tohoogheemraadschap, which is translated in the same way aswaterschap.
The term "water board" or "regional water authority" may be confusing in theDutch context, aswater boards and regional water authorities in other countries are often responsible forwater supply. Awaterschap orhoogheemraadschap in the Netherlands is charged with the control and management of water as well as treatment of waste water, but not with water supply. In Canada (Vancouver) such a government body is also called a Regional Drainage and Sewerage District Authority with the authority often left out. Regional fresh water facilities are provided by a Regional Water District eg. Metro Vancouver Water District, Metro Vancouver Sewerage and Drainage District.
Water boards act independently from administrative governing bodies to manage the continuously needed control and improvement of thewater household in the Netherlands. Water boards levy taxes to finance the work, they have the authority to penalize offenders through means of administrative measures. To control quality of surface water (canals, lakes, ponds and streams), water boards fulfill several tasks: policy making, planning and building of projects, maintenance, innovation, issuing permits (sewage discharge requires a permit) and treatment of sewage and by-products. The various municipalities within the geographic area covered by a water board are responsible for collecting sewage from households and industries, but water boards transport and treat the sewage.
In its territory a water board is responsible for:
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Dutch water boards arenot responsible for the water supply to the general public and are therefore not considered autility.[13]
In addition to taxes raised by water boards, central government contributes to their finances by paying construction and maintenance costs of water barriers and main waterways. The costs of waste water treatment are financed by awater pollution levy, which is based on thepolluter pays principle.
Water boards hold elections, levy taxes and function independently from other government bodies. Water board structures vary, but they each have an elected general administrative body, an executive board and a chair.
Most of the members of the general administrative body of the water boards (thehoofdingelanden) are elected democratically, although some stakeholders (e.g. agrarian interests) may have the power to appoint members. Members of the general administrative body are elected for a period of four years.
The constituencies of members of the general administrative body are the various categories of stakeholders: landholders, leaseholders, owners of buildings, companies and all residents. The nature of the interest and financial contribution are factors in determining how many representatives each category may have on the water board.
The general administrative body elects some of its own members to sit on the executive board, called thecollege van dijkgraaf en heemraden. Except for the chairperson (thedijkgraaf, see below) these executive board members, calledheemraden orhoogheemraden in Dutch, represent five types of stake holders: local residents, industry (factories and industrial buildings), municipalities (urban areas), farmers and land-owners of agricultural land, and natureconservation parks.
Each water board is headed by a chair (dijkgraaf, literally: "dike count", but sometimes called "dike reeve" or "dike warden" in English). The chair is appointed by the king on the recommendation of the board for a period of six years. The chair presides over the executive board and the general administrative body and has certain ceremonial duties as well. The chair of a water board is at the same level as amayor in municipality government and aking's commissioner in provincial government.
Typically, a water board's territory is made up of one or morepolders orwatersheds. The territory of a water board generally covers several municipalities and may include areas located in two or more provinces. As of 2018, there are 21 water boards in the Netherlands.[14]
Anyone who is aged 18 or over and is registered with a local authority in the Netherlands can vote in the water board elections, which are held every four years on the same day as the provincial elections. Prior to the vote, the local council mails each voter a list of candidates, a ballot paper and details of their local polling stations.
The Unie van Waterschappen (the union of Dutch regional water authorities, referring to itself as Dutch Water Authorities)[15] promotes the interests of Dutch water boards at a national and international level. All 21 water boards are member of this association. The Unie van Waterschappen acts collaboratively with other appropriate bodies or institutions to pursue the Association's objectives. It is a member of theEuropean Union of Water Management Associations (EUWMA).[16]
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