Measures for High-Lying Areas with Sandy Soils

The measures for the high-lying areas with sandy soils have been set out in detail in the Delta Plans for Flood risk management, Fresh water, and Spatial adaptation.

Milestones 2015-2025

In recent years, a lot of hard work has gone into the agendas for these areas. Milestones include:  

• In recent years, provincial and municipal authorities, water authorities and other partners have executed more than 300 projects on the high-lying areas with sandy soils in the South, East and North (ZON). The size of the groundwater buffer has been increased and water use has been reduced.  
• Water intake from the Meuse to the Brabant and Limburg Peel canal system uses the Noordervaart. The water authorities improved the underlying regional water system so that the incoming water could reach the ‘capillaries’. The Rijkswaterstaat project to increase influx capacity has not yet been implemented. 
• In the dry year of 2018, there was large-scale damage to nature, historical green areas and crops on the high-lying sandy soils. The steps taken in the past have proven effective. In particular, the small-scale measures in nature areas (such as filling in ditches) and in the surrounding agricultural area (such as level-controlled drainage, water conservation in farm ditches and stream restoration) are a first step towards restoring the system. Without these measures, damage as a result of drought would have been more extensive in 2018.  
• Most of the measures in the first phase have been completed. 
• In 2021, the Northern, Eastern and Southern Netherlands regions established new working programmes for the second phase extending to year-end 2027. The programmes build on the approach from the first phase, with measures in three main categories: adjustments to the water system, water use and land use.  
• The decisions for the second phase were made between late 2022 and mid-2023. The implementation of the Southwest Delta Programme is proceeding apace. 
• In September 2022, an independent advisory committee presented the final report ‘No Water, No Future’ (Dutch) about ways to tackle water shortages in Noord-Brabant. This report also produced insights that apply to other parts of the high-lying areas with sandy soils. The parties working together in Noord-Brabant adopted the advisory report and implemented it as the 2040 Drought Agenda, which was adopted in 2024. In 2025, the partners in Limburg are working out the declaration of intent ‘Enough Freshwater’ in the Limburg Freshwater Covenant for 2050. The agreement frameworks jointly constitute the basis for the regional goals of the periodical evaluation of the Delta Decision for the South Region.  
• The Blue Agenda implementation agenda was adopted administratively in April 2023. The joint actors are therefore working to make the Utrechtse Heuvelrug’s water system robust and future-resilient, with a sustainable place being granted to all water functions. This is done by retaining water for longer and infiltrating more water. 
• In 2024, the Delta Programme for High-Lying Areas with Sandy Soils conducted a study on whether and how to prevent water demand increasing as a result of measures in the Delta Programme for Spatial Adaptation. Exploratory studies are also being conducted with the drinking water sector. 
• In 2024/2025, the regional goals were elaborated for the East and North Netherlands regions for the purposes of the periodical evaluation of the Delta Decision. In June 2025, the administrative line was laid down for the strategy and regional goals for Phase 3 in ZON.  
   

Ongoing implementation of measures in phase 2 to year-end 2027

In the coming years, many projects and activities are on the agenda for the implementation of the strategy for the high-lying areas with sandy soils. Optimising the water system is no longer enough; an extensive transition is needed to make these areas future-resilient. The consequences of climate change are now apparent, and both local people and land users will have to learn to cope with longer dry periods.  

In recent years, the emphasis was on exploiting opportunities and ‘no-regret measures’, in other words measures that people will not regret after they have been implemented. The time ahead will be devoted to extending and connecting the measures.  

The measures for phase 2, 2022 to year-end 2027, include:  

• Flexible level management in the water system of the regional water management authorities 
• Stream restoration and the re-profiling of registered watercourses 
• Controlled drainage and underwater drainage 
• Reduction of local drainage and water run-off 
• Disconnecting paved surfaces from the drains and redirecting the water to storage or infiltration facilities 
• Improving the soil structure 
• Targeted irrigation systems 
• Company-specific incentive plans 
• Adaptation of land use: changes in function to provide room for water 
• Working with all stakeholders in an area-specific way on freshwater retention and/or the economic use of water 
• Transforming coniferous woods into heathland woods or deciduous woods 

Retaining water in the soil and watercourses helps to prevent droughts and flooding. Water is retained in close consultation with the parties concerned. There are also coordination activities relating to the implementation of other agendas such as the energy transition, the agricultural transition, environmental policy and agendas for the economy, quality of life and health.  

The measures will be elaborated in appropriate ways for each individual area in the high-lying areas with sandy soils in the Southern, Eastern (Dutch) and Northern Netherlands. 

In 2025 and 2026, we are updating the strategy in preparation for Phase 3 of the Southwest Delta Programme. A regional bid with the associated package of measures is also being drafted.  

Knowledge and research

Research into developments in these areas for the period 2022-2027 is covered by the Knowledge Agenda of the Delta Programme (Dutch). The Southern and Eastern regions are working on these questions in the TKI-KLIMAP knowledge programme (the successor to Lumbricus (Dutch), the research programme for a climate-robust soil and water system). The Southern, Northern and Eastern regions are reformulating the KNMI scenarios and the national bottleneck analysis in terms appropriate for the high-lying areas with sandy soils.