River / dyke cleaning,Question for farmers in Holland/ Netherlands?

[Pilatus]

Very serious questions.
Who is in control of maintaining/ cleaning the rivers,dykes and farm ditches etc?
Is the policy of the controlling authorities to regularly clean the rivers , dykes and farm ditches etc, or do they tend to let them silt up for the sake of the environment as does the Environment Agency instead the UK , thereby creating serious amounts of flooding?

 

[Wombat]

Very serious questions.
Who is in control of maintaining/ cleaning the dykes and farm ditches etc?
Is the policy of the controlling authorities to regularly clean the dykes and farm ditches etc, or do they tend to let them silt up for the sake of the environment as does the Environment Agency instead the UK , thereby creating serious amounts of flooding?

There will be an expert a long soon but believe the landowner has a legal requirements to do by a certain date every year

 

[GOODYSMATE]

Same as above,I am sure it's the landowner, when I have been over there they all look nice and tidy , often see little heaps of maybe grass or reeds ,I think they pick them up and take to a incernater allow I could be wrong on that, also seen some mini round bales on grass verge think they go to incernater as well

 

[slackjawedyokel]

It always seems quite the feat of engineering- how the levels in the various ditches are controlled. I imagine if you’re a landowner that isn’t playing ball and allowing your bit to silt up, the penalties would be quite harsh.

 

[Sheep]

@Gerbert

 

[Farmer dyke]

In my area it's as follows; most waterways have to be maintained by the landowner alongside it, altleast 1 time a year, before I believe 15 oktober, you have to do the 'schouw' which means removing most or all growth 1 meter in the ditch from land. The middle of the waterways and some of the important wider ones maintained by the waterboard themselves. They check the if the schouw has been done correctly else you have to do it again and make sure it's according to the standards.

But it's not only the growth, the waterboard also measures mud/sludge in the waterways and can force landowners to dredge and accept the sludge on their land.

To add dykes and rivers are maintaned mostly by governments instances, however dykes and floodplains are rented out to farmers to graze or use them for crop. You have to maintain them correctly though.

 

[topground]

In my area it's as follows; most waterways have to be maintained by the landowner alongside it, altleast 1 time a year, before I believe 15 oktober, you have to do the 'schouw' which means removing most or all growth 1 meter in the ditch from land. The middle of the waterways and some of the important wider ones maintained by the waterboard themselves. They check the if the schouw has been done correctly else you have to do it again and make sure it's according to the standards.

But it's not only the growth, the waterboard also measures mud/sludge in the waterways and can force landowners to dredge and accept the sludge on their land.

How sensible!

 

[Farmer dyke]

How sensible!

We kinda depend on it wouldn't have it any other way, I get irritated if the waters 20 cm higher than normal

 

[Gerbert]

There are 3 kinds of waterways, A, B and C.
A is done by the waterboard themselves and cleaned once or twice a year. B has to be done by the owner of the land next to it. Ditching isn't a choice, it is mandatory. If you do not do it yourself it willl be done for you and you can not stop them by law. Also you will get the bill for the work.
C waterways are not regulated for cleaning, generally they are only in your own interest.
If a ditch starts on someones property and only is of use to themselves until it goes into a A waterway it will be a C ditch, if part of it goes through someone elses property until it goes into a A waterway, that part will be a B (generally).
For non agricultural things like forsts the rules might be different.
The "schouw"like farmer dyke explained is a little less stringent as it used to be, and honestly I don't know what the fines are if you don't do your duty regarding waterways, might be a lessening of subsidies.

 

[bluebell]

The dutch are a great people, i have been to boskoop, where a lot of nursery plants are grown for export, i dont know what its like today, but when i was there a while back i visited plant growers large and small, the small, were growers in front gardens, to large, over hectares multi million, all the growers both large and small were marketed by, export, "dealers", enabling the growers to get on and consentrate on the growing and leaving the selling exporting to others,a very good professional service

 

[Pilatus]

@Farmer dyke and @Gerbert , thank you very much for your replies.
So much for the crack pot ,short sighted, selfish policy of the UK Environment Agency, as Holland /Netherlands wouldn’t exist if the policies of Environmental Agency were implemented in your country.!!!!!

 

[Gerbert]

The waterboards are also a government in and of itselves with elections every 4 years. In it there are some secured seats for both farmers and natury organisations (less then there used to be though).
Actually the waterboards are older then the Netherlands itself or any layer of government in it.
It is just that if you guys screw up all things water some people get fairly moist in a decade and a bit wet in another 20years. If we fuuck up half the country drowns right quick fast in a hurry. It is all about urgency.

 

[puppet]

I guess schouw is like the Scottish sheuch - a ditch.
Example, his pants were stuck up the sheuch of his a*rse

 

[Gerbert]

I guess schouw is like the Scottish sheuch - a ditch.
Example, his pants were stuck up the sheuch of his a*rse

No, schouw comes from aanschouwen which means something like to look at something.

 

[mar]

In my area it's as follows; most waterways have to be maintained by the landowner alongside it, altleast 1 time a year, before I believe 15 oktober, you have to do the 'schouw' which means removing most or all growth 1 meter in the ditch from land. The middle of the waterways and some of the important wider ones maintained by the waterboard themselves. They check the if the schouw has been done correctly else you have to do it again and make sure it's according to the standards.

But it's not only the growth, the waterboard also measures mud/sludge in the waterways and can force landowners to dredge and accept the sludge on their land.

To add dykes and rivers are maintaned mostly by governments instances, however dykes and floodplains are rented out to farmers to graze or use them for crop. You have to maintain them correctly though.

You say all the waterways have to be cleaned by 15 October, is there a closed period when you are not allowed to clean the waterways.

 

[Farmer dyke]

You say all the waterways have to be cleaned by 15 October, is there a closed period when you are not allowed to clean the waterways.

Its actually the third monday of october that the waterboards starts their checks, i looked it up
Most waterways can be cleaned whenever, however it isnt allowed when watertemperature reached certain height, it just mandatory that in fall and winter the waterways are clean and water can flow when heavy rain hits.
we usually do the cleaning around mid/end september so land is dry and the tractor or digger isnt making a mess.