Nature Balance 2008: Freshwater has become cleaner
The quality of the freshwater in the Netherlands has improved greatly since the 1970s.
Leersumse veld (photo: Jacqueline Wondergem-van Eijk).
The unnaturally high levels of nutrients in the water have decreased due to the improved efficiency of water purification systems and the removal of phosphate from washing powders. In addition, the pesticide load in freshwater has decreased. This improvement is clearly reflected by the quality of freshwater ecosystems. The quantity and species composition of the fish and small water animals in streams indicate that an improvement is taking place. Nevertheless, the current ecological quality is generally poor on average.
In recent decades, the quality of fish habitats has improved in streams (source: Witteveen en Bos, 2008a; Kuijsten et al., 2008).
The Water Framework Directive provides opportunities and risks
The government and the water boards are starting to implement the European Water Framework Directive. If the proposed measures become policy, the water quality in 2027 will have improved significantly. However, these beneficial developments are not expected to be sufficient to realise all the proposed targets from the Water Framework Directive. Especially where the Natura 2000 sites are concerned, the package of measures to comply with the Water Framework Directive will not only be insufficient, it will be too late. According to the Water Framework Directive, the Natura 2000 sites must have good water quality by 2015. The Netherlands expects that the European Commission will accept postponing the deadline for achieving that target until 2027.
