1.
The waterlevy systemandthestake-pay-sayprinciple in the
Netherlands
Herman Havekes
Dutch Water Authorities
IEEP Conference
Brussels, 5 October 2017

2.
THE NETHERLANDS: DELTA OF 4 INTERNATIONAL RIVER BASINS WHERE WATER
MANAGEMENT IS A NEVER ENDING STORY
Rhine
Scheldt Meuse
Ems

3.
THE NORTH SEA FLOOD OF 1953
175.000 ha flooded
1.836 dead
(1995 was a very
narrow escape,
evacuation of
250.000 people)

4.
THE NETHERLANDS WITHOUT DIKES
29 % below sealevel
26 % floodplains
55 % flood risk area
2.000 billion euro protected
value
10 million people
Climate change…

5.
ORGANIZATION DUTCH WATER MANAGEMENT
• National Government: national water policy, legal standards (flood protection,
environmental standards), supervision and operational tasks for the national water
infrastructure (Rijkswaterstaat)
• Provinces (12): regional water policy, licensing the major groundwater abstractions and
supervision on Regional Water Authorities and Municipalities
• Municipalities (388): sewage system, storm water collection and urban groundwater
level
• Water companies (10): drinking water supply
• Regional Water Authorities (21): flood protection, water quantity and quality
management, waste water treatment and musk rat and coypu control
• Cooperation is key: Administrative Agreement on Water (2011)
• So water management in the Netherlands is a public, and highly decentralized, matter.
However, the private sector is closely involved to built and maintain the water works.

6.
REGIONAL WATER AUTHORITIES: SELF GOVERNANCE
BY STAKEHOLDERS
• since 1255
• 2647 (!) RWAs in 1950, now 21
• own legal power
• own tax system
• own board and elections
• 11.500 employees
Only water management tasks:
• flood protection (18.000 km)
• surface water quantity (225.000 km)
• 3.700 pumping stations
• surface water quality
• waste water treatment (340 wwtps)
• Musk rat and coypu control (100.000
captures per year)

7.
• The Dutch financing system is highly decentralised: the total
costs of water management (approx. €7 bln per year) are only
financed for a small part (20%) by the central government. Less
than 0.5% of state budget is yearly spent for water purposes.
The lion’s share – in fact €5.5 bln - is financed by different taxes
(and prices) households, farmers and companies have to pay
• This is in line with international principles like the
polluter/beneficiary/user pays (article 9 EWFD, Recommen-
dation on Water, OECD 2016)
DIFFERENT TAXES AND PRICES

8.
RWA TAXES (1)
Total Gross
Tax Revenue
Covers 95% of
all water
management
costs.
€2.7 billion in 2017
Min.
Max.
± €1.30 billion
Waste Water
Treatment
± €1.40 billion
Flood protection,
Surface Water
Management
Stake – Pay - Say Polluter pays

9.
• Some average tariffs: the tariff of a pollution unit is appr. €55, the
resident tax appr. €80 and the tax per hectare appr. €60 per
year. An average household pays appr. €320 per year to the
RWA. For all the water tasks (including drinking water supply
and sewage) a household pays appr. €680 per year.
• Due to a better cooperation with the municipalities the tariffs
show last years an acceptable increase. We strive after cost
savings of €750 mln per year in 2020.
• Low income groups get remission.
RWA TAXES (2)

10.
• By their sufficient tax income RWAs are almost completely self
supporting, the RWA board decides about the tariffs, stakeholders are
involved, and there is no provincial or central government approval of
those tariffs
• RWAs have enough money for the necessary investments and for the
day-to-day maintenance of the water works (and for reasonable
wages…)
• The tax money is earmarked, it must be spent for water management
purposes
• We levy a tax on each unbuilt hectare, surface water and
groundwater abstractions are (almost) for free
RWA TAXES (3)

11.
INVESTMENTS OF RWAS
40%
28%
26%
6%
Investmentvolume 2016-2019:
€ 1.3 bn/year
Flood protection
Water systems (quant + qual)
Waste water treatment
Others

12.
STAKEHOLDER INVOLVEMENT: STAKE-PAY-SAY
Stakeholder democracy:
o Residents
o Industries
o Farmers/landowners
o Nature conservation
• Stake–pay-say
• Every 4 years elections
for residents (who
always have the majority
in the board)
• Other stakeholders are
appointed
• Last election: 18th March
2015, turn-out of 43,5%

13.
• New safety standards for primary dikes since 1 January 2017, till 2050
strenghtening 1.500 km of dikes, costs approx. €11-15 bln, nevertheless
RWAs spent the smallest part of their money for water safety
• Preventing water surplusses and heat stress in and outside cities, if we
do nothing a total material urban damage of €71 bln is foreseen until
2050 (Deltares, 2012)
• Improving water quality (diffuse sources of pollution)
• Energy transition, measures in the water system and on wwtps
• Circular economy: recovery of raw materials on wwtps (phospates,
bioplastics, alginate, cellulose), see www.efgf.nl
CHALLENGES

14.
OECD STUDY ON WATER (2014)
Rewarding
• Global reference for water management
• Robust and adjustable institutional and policy
framework
• Wide acknowledgement for innovative concepts of
IWRM
• Delta Programme
‘Fit for the future?’: YES … but:
• Awareness gap
• Water quality
• Hidden costs spatial planning
• Polluter/user/beneficiary pays

15.
• The Dutch finance system is stable, including full-cost recovery for most
water services, but it can be strengthened: the polluter pays principle
could be more fully applied to cover non-point sources of pollution, in
particular from agriculture, and abstraction charges or taxes could be
used in accordance with the beneficiary pays principle
• The ministry for I&E and the umbrella organizations of provinces,
regional water authorities, municipalities and water companies are now
working on it, stakeholders, NGOs and scholars are closely involved. A
report with recommendations is expected by end 2017
OECD RECOMMENDATIONS

16.
Financing IWRM
• Worldwide adequate financing of Integrated Resource Water
Management is a major problem. We welcome many
international delegations each year and always financing of
water management is the main topic
• So, international attention and cooperation is very valuable,
this conference can help
• Should we make a plea for an international standard that each
country spends at least 1% of its GDP on IWRM?? (In the
Netherlands it is 1.26%)

17.
SEE FOR MORE INFORMATION AND COOPERATION:
WATER GOVERNANCE. THE DUTCH WATER AUTHORITY MODEL, DUTCH WATER
AUTHORITIES, THE HAGUE 2017, WWW.DUTCHWATERAUTHORITIES.COM
BROCHURE DUTCH WATER AUTHORITIES, WWW.DUTCHWATERAUTHORITIES.COM
BUILDING BLOCKS FOR GOOD WATER GOVERNANCE (2016),
WWW.WATERGOVERNANCECENTRE.NL/PUBLICATIONS
REQUESTS FOR COOPERATION, INFO@DUTCHWATERAUTHORITIES.COM
(AND: HHAVEKES@UVW.NL)

18.
Johannes Vermeer, View of Delft 1661
THANKS FOR YOU ATTENTION!
Hansje Brinker,
American or French
fairy-tale?