'Water congestion threatens construction of tens of thousands of homes annually'

The construction of tens of thousands of homes annually is at risk due to future problems with drinking water connections. This is what Ymere's housing corporation director Marike Bonhof is warning about. The former CFO of drinking water company Vitens believes that water collection systems should become mandatory for new construction and renovations.

Bonhof's plea for wiser use of water does not come out of the blue. The RIVM has long been warning of a future lack 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 director.

"Per person, we consume an average of 130 liters of clean water every day, while we may need at most 5 liters. 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 self-evident

In the foreseeable future, having clean water will no longer be a matter of course 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 mounting 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 demand 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 storage 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 The Hague, the water safety expert notes that building plans still hardly include measures that know how to retain water in residential areas or use it intelligently. According to her, this is due to a lack of hard rules.

"Ultimately, climate-adaptive construction simply costs an awful lot of money. We are 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 well now, it's about 100 percent more cost in 10 to 30 years after the investment."

Mentally tangled

Real estate expert Nicole Maarsen suspects that many citizens, builders and developers have little or no knowledge of water issues. "But if it is true that water congestion will become 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 water is also a mental problem for home builders. "They already have so many tasks on their plates 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 should build smarter. Temporary excess water can be captured in future homes, they say, as well as in special facilities such as underground parking garages or water corridors.

Booister: "There are already examples like this, but it is still too limited. We are talking about hundreds of thousands of homes that will be built in the coming period. Then we are not going to make it with measures for projects of up to 25 homes."

"It is time for sacrifices from society to prevent future disasters," 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 Stoer
Episode 5: Water Congestion Dossier | '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, Fair and Realistic. Bureau Stoer aims not only to address and analyze problems, but to help solve them.

Bureau Stoer's core team consists of three experts in housing, building 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 (biobased 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? If so, send an email to Bureaustoer@jaarbeurs.nl.