The construction of tens of thousands of homes annually is at risk from future problems with drinking water connections. This is what Ymere housing corporation executive Marike Bonhof is warning about. The former CFO of drinking water company Vitens believes that water collection systems should become mandatory in new construction and renovations.
Bonhof's plea for wiser use of water does not come out of the blue. The National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) has been warning for some time about a future shortage of clean drinking water if the Netherlands does not quickly set requirements for building plans. Although the government launched an action program in 2025, it is not going fast enough, according to the housing corporation executive.
"Per person, we consume an average of 130 liters of clean water every day when we might need 5 liters at most. It is bizarre that we still flush our toilets with drinking water and water our gardens with drinking water. Go see Singapore where they depend on water from Malaysia. They're really not going to flush their toilets with drinking water there, so it's time that we as a construction industry also adapt to water," says Bonhof in the latest episode of the podcast Bureau Stoer on water.
Not obvious
In the foreseeable future, having clean water will no longer be a given in the Netherlands either, Bonhof believes. "The quality of our water is under severe pressure. We are not complying with the European Water Framework Directive (WFD), while the expansion of drinking water supplies is slow and its bill is rising due to pollution of our water. In addition to grid congestion, construction is also facing water congestion."
Nikéh Booister, strategic expert on water safety at engineering firm Sweco, shares Bonhof's concerns. She emphasizes that the demand for water is increasing. "Agriculture, data centers and the nature industry, all users require a lot of water. That means there's only one thing to do: we need to hold our water better, where in the past 100 years we just drained it towards the sea. We need to stop seeing water as our worst enemy and start seeing it as a friend."
Booister advises developers, governments and builders to invest in water retention measures that will pay off handsomely in the long run. If we don't, the damage to homes, bridges, infrastructure and sewers due to subsidence will be many times higher. "As a country, we are at the limits of our soil and water system. This is an urgent problem."
Invest now in later
Although soil- and water-controlled construction is getting more attention in political circles in The Hague, the water safety expert notes that building plans still hardly include measures that know how to retain or make smart use of water in residential areas. According to her, this is due to a lack of hard rules.
"Ultimately, climate-adaptive construction just costs an awful lot of money. You're talking about thousands to tens of thousands of extra euros per home. The important thing is that if we don't do it, the future costs will be many times higher... If you don't prepare it properly now, it's about 100 percent more cost in 10 to 30 years after the investment."
Mentally tied up in knots
Real estate expert Nicole Maarsen suspects that many citizens, builders and developers have little or no knowledge of water issues. "But if it's true that water congestion is becoming the next problem for housing construction, which we already have a glaring shortage of, then this needs to come under a magnifying glass."
Maarsen thinks the problem of water is underestimated. Bonhof adds that for home builders, water is also a mental issue. "They already have so many tasks on their plate and think: should this be added to it?"
According to Maarsen, the solution starts with creating awareness. Then we have to start doing it together."
Solutions
The three also believe architects and builders need to build smarter. Temporary excess water, they say, can be captured in future homes as well as in special facilities such as underground parking garages or water corridors.
Booister: "These kinds of examples are already there, but is still too limited. We're talking about hundreds of thousands of homes that are going to be built in the near future. Then we're not going to make it with measures for projects of up to 25 homes."
"It is time for sacrifices from society to prevent disasters in the future," concludes Bonhof. "Take an example from Flanders where every new home is required to be equipped with a water collection system. I would also mandate the installation of a rainwater harvesting bin for the renovation of 8.4 million homes. Expensive, I would like to turn it around. It is very bizarre that we are not already doing this in the Netherlands. Extra delay for housing construction? Well, no."
Curious about the whole story? Listen to episode 5 of the podcast Bureau Stoer here.
Bureau Tough
Episode 5: Dossier Water Congestion | 'It's time for sacrifices'
With: Nikéh Booister, Sweco water safety expert, Marike Bonhof, director of housing corporation Ymere and Nicole Maarsen, real estate expert
Presentation: Thomas van Belzen
Editing: Kalynda Haaf (HaafVisual)
Listen to previous episodes here
Episode 4: File net congestion |'Construction plan waits 2.5 years for a connection'
Episode 3: File bureaucracy | 'Objection costs building plan 1001 frustrating nights'
Episode 2: Dossier CO2-neutral building | 'Installation-free building is the future'
Episode 1: 'Bureau Stoer is not a glorification of Friso de Zeeuw'
About Bureau Stoer
Bureau Stoer is a weekly, investigative and curious podcast about dossiers that frustrate future area development. Three thinkers of the future and a journalist, together with different experts each time, bite into numerous headache files, such as grid congestion, CO2, nitrogen, climate adaptation and sufficient drinking water connections.
The acronym "Stoer" stands for a built environment that is Smart, Future-Focused, Enterprising, Honest and Realistic. Bureau Stoer aims not only to address and analyze problems, but also to help solve them.
Bureau Stoer's core team consists of three experts in the fields of housing, construction and area development. They are Nicole Maarsen (housing acceleration table, digitalization, smart cities), Dick van Ginkel (TBI innovation manager, regulatory expert) and Jan Willem van de Groep (bio-based building, power accelerator, innovation). The presentation is in the hands of Thomas van Belzen, editor-in-chief of Construction & Installation at the Jaarbeurs.
Tips or comments
Do you have tips for files that Bureau Stoer should get stuck into? Do you have a problem you want to bring to their attention, a solution or an expert? Then send an email to Bureaustoer@jaarbeurs.nl.
