Week 4

I seem to look more closely at the water related topics - probably because of the boating/recreation interest

70 Advice Notices have been given to the Provinces in a measure to improve the Netherlands Nature Reserves.

Slecht = Poor
Redelijk = Reasonable
Natura 2000 Reserves (not included in the Notices) are those which are mandated by EU directives and have been the cause of much controversy about Nitrogen levels.

Almost every area that has been studied suffers from the large amount of nitrogen. Well-known examples are the Limburg Brunssummerheide, the Sallandse Heuvelrug (Overijssel) and the Alde Feanen in Friesland. (one of our boating areas).

Nitrogen provides extra nutrients in the soil, causing (rare) plants that require little nutrition to become overgrown. This in turn has negative consequences for birds, butterflies and other animals.Many different types of plants and animals (biodiversity) ensure clean air, pollination of plants and good soil quality. If certain species decline sharply or even disappear, this will also have consequences for our environment.

Dehydration and poor water quality are also terms that frequently appear in the advice. This has several causes. Sometimes it is due to groundwater levels that are too low, sometimes due to too many fertilizers or pesticides in the water. And sometimes also due to a combination of those factors.

In addition, the EA also sees that too many people recreate in certain nature reserves, which damages nature. This happens, for example, in De Biesbosch, the Loonse and Drunense Duinen (North Brabant) and the Sallandse Heuvelrug. In many cases, nature reserves are also too small or fragmented.

One of the heads of the EA also warned of poor water supplies. Basically saying that the Netherlands should avoid just looking at the Nitrogen problem - because there are other equally important problems to be dealt with.

We cannot say: we will first do nitrogen for five or ten years and then we will do water. No, we have to move on.

Harry Webers, Vice-Chairman of the Ecological Authority

Most of my reading has been from nu.nl - they sometimes have many thousands of readers' responses.

This was one such response that caught my eye - the BBB is the new "Citizen Farmers' Movement" which had a highly successful political marketing/protest campaign and will now be part of the far right coalition.

(quote)

And now we will soon have a BBB in the cabinet that will do everything it can to look even less ahead, to destroy the environment even further and to invest even more taxpayers' money in one of the most prosperous professional groups in the Netherlands, while an entire generation is forced to join Mom and Dad and have to live (in the parents' house) until they are forty because nothing can be built anymore, just to spare those so-called "poor" farmers. Good job, Netherlands.

Another story also caught my eye - more a sign of the times, but also a story about the water-

The Van Brienenoord Bridge, one of the busiest bridges in the Netherlands, has reached the end of its lifespan, but Rijkswaterstaat cannot find a suitable party for the renovation. As a result, the work is delayed for years, while the risk of disruption increases.

It looks perfectly good but has reached the end of it's lifespan and needs to be replaced and/or renovated. Only one quote was tendered but it was above the allowable budget, so it will be at least 4 years before anything can be done. The waterways' infrastructure is a big deal here - the current problem is exacerbated by the shortage of skilled workers. The first span of the bridge was built in 1965, so all those workers are long gone.

I read the story earlier in the week and so had to search under "brug" to find it again. In so doing, I found another story - also a sign of the times - about a bridge being made inoperable because thieves stole all the copper wiring!

There will be no shipping on the Zaan in the coming days. The Beatrix Bridge in Zaandam can no longer open after copper was stolen. The lighting, cameras and bridge signals also no longer work.

Meanwhile, the building works continue...

We can now get a better idea of what it is going to look like. The kitchen people came to measure up - that's another 12 week wait. We've been going for just about 3 months already.

Next week, I have to shift a pile of dirt which came out of the foundations. The grass is so wet that we had to lay some heavy duty driveway sheets - it's the kids' weekend, so we had lots of help. They really do enjoy getting a bit busy - at least for a little while...

And my apartment insulation work is just about finished - a grandson is coming to visit at the end of february, so the timing works out OK.

Re-installing the heating system was always going to be the hardest part - the installation chaps make it look so easy... we had 3 radiators to install and 21 joints to make with T-pieces and elbows - one of the "used" elbows continued to leak, so we had to go and buy a new one - other than that, it was pretty straight forward - but it took us 4 days!!