Water Issues in the Netherlands

[kiwibird]

Where do you think the worst places are for fertilizer water pollution?
E. Jeppesen: "The case is very bad in Denmark and Holland. It is the worst when
there are so many pigs and cows. In most places manure is a source but here, in
Denmark, we have such big pig farms, it is a waste. Another problem we have is
we use too much phosphorous. The phosphorous content is too high in the soil
because it is fixed to the soil stronger than nitrogen. Phosphorous is either in
organic or mineral form so where nitrogen is taken up easily a lot of phosphorous
is always left behind. We have known this since the last fifteen years but we only
have done something since the last five years. In Holland it is worse, most soils are
completely saturated in phosphorous.

http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=1116422
R?sum? / Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the occurrence of high levels of pesticides in groundwater and rainwater in The Province of Limburg in The Netherlands. In groundwater samples in particular the presence of triazines - atrazine, simazine and propazine - was observed; besides these pesticides, dieldrin has also been observed. Atrazine and simazine were found to exceed the groundwater standard of 100 ng L-1. In the rainwater samples, the presence of 13 of 23 different analyzed pesticides was observed. A number of pesticides were found in high concentrations; e.g. atrazine (>200 ng L-1). Two pesticides detected in rainwater (β+γ-HCH and atrazine) were found to exceed the groundwater standard. Seven pesticides in rainwater were found to exceed the target value and three pesticides the maximum tolerable risk value (DDT, heptachlor and heptachlorepoxide A), which are used as ecotoxicological standards in The Netherlands. Nitrate in 15 of 16 analyzed natural springs was found to exceed the guideline value for nitrate in drinking water of 50 mg L-1, up to levels of about 200 mg L-1. Nitrate concentrations in rainwater samples were observed up to 4.5 mg L-1
http://74.125.155.132/search?q=cach..."australia"+"gov.au"&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=nz

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: Water Issues in the Netherlands

Indeed there is an issue with water, but IMHO not so much with drinking water.

If the ground water is polluted, this doesn't mean the drinking water is polluted.

The drinking water is checked all the time, in some regions one should be carefull with using the water for babies: for instance Oost-Gelderland, Oost-Brabant en in Zuid-Limburg. Nitrate could be higher than 10 mg L-1 . People can check that with their water supplier.

50 mg L-1 is regarded to be a safe level for drinking water for adults, all drinking water in the Netherlands should be below this level.

http://www.water.nl/wat_er_in_kraanwater_zit.htm


Phosphorous is no issue for drinking water, however it is for water in rivers and lakes and in the North Sea. Government policy wants to bring down the level of phosphorous.

http://www.dunea.nl/renderer.do/men...alItemId/11552/pageId/59826/instanceId/59869/


In some houses there are old lead pipes, they should be replaced.

http://www.postbus51.nl/nl/home/the...-en-is-dat-gevaarlijk-voor-de-gezondheid.html

Report on drinkingwater quality in the Netherlands, in Dutch:

http://www.postbus51.nl/nl/home/pub...-van-het-drinkwater-in-nederland-in-2006.html

Quality of drinking water in the Netherlands in general is very high, it tastes very good in most regions. This is one thing you notice when traveling to other countries. Most of the time we buy water when we are abroad and don't use the drinking water for making coffee etc.

 

[kiwibird]

Re: Water Issues in the Netherlands

Nitrate standards for drinking water:

United States 10mg/l Germany 4.4mg/l
EEC 5.6mg/l South Africa 4.4mg/l

http://www.co.missoula.mt.us/WQ/Wells/pdfs/nitrates.pdf

There has not been much research done on "healthy" levels of nitrate. The standard EEC level is 5.6 mg/l. The only research I can find is with regard to cancer, especially kidney cancer. The "background" natural level of nitrate is usually below 10mg/l and have increased to that from the 1940's. Most appear to have normally been below 2mg/l in most countries.

Nitrates and ammonium are the most common forms of nitrogen in rivers, with nitrates alone accounting for over 80% of total nitrogen. For the period 1992-1996, over 65% of the rivers in the European Union had average annual nitrate concentrations exceeding 1 mg N/litre. During the same period, concentrations of over 7.5 mg N/l were also found in approximately 15% of cases. The highest concentrations are in Northwest Europe, where agriculture is intensive.

http://www.grid.unep.ch/product/publication/freshwater_europe/quality.php

I would imagine that the human metabolism is more suited to these much lower levels.

 

[marcovth]

Re: Water Issues in the Netherlands

I lived in The Hague. The water there was filtered through the dunes.

I wonder if the quality of dune filtered water is better than the
ground water they take in other places?

And yes, there are a lot more pigs in Holland than Dutch people :tiphat: