Peter Glas to resign as Delta Commissioner in December

Peter Glas is stepping down as the government commissioner for the Delta Programme at the end of the year. He has reached retirement age and will transfer his duties to a newly appointed Delta Commissioner effective 1 December. The recruitment process for the new government commissioner for the Delta Programme will begin next month.

Forty years in the domain of water

Mr. drs. P.C.G. Glas (born in Hoorn (NL) in 1956) has now worked in the domain of water for forty years. In 1983, after studying Biology and Dutch Law, he started out on his career as a researcher-consultant at the Hydraulic Laboratory in Delft, now Deltares.

Portretfoto van Peter Glas
Image: Valerie Kuypers
Deltacommissioner Peter Glas.

Glas was the dike reeve of the De Dommel water authority in Noord-Brabant for many years. From 2004 to 2015, he also served on the board of the Union of Water Authorities, where he was the chair from 2010 to 2015. In addition, Glas held a range of positions in international water organisations. Until last year, he was the international chair of the OECD Water Governance Initiative. He is now the chair of the governing board of IHE Delft.

As the Delta Commissioner, Glas has been a strong advocate of additional funding for new flood risk management projects in the Delta Fund and he has drawn attention to the need for climate-resilient building in the Netherlands. His recommendations in this respect have been incorporated in the Dutch Cabinet’s new policy granting a leading role to water and soil in spatial-planning agendas. A yardstick has also now been developed so that municipalities and builders can take the effects of climate change and weather extremes – such as cloudbursts and longer dry and hot periods – into account in new residential areas and homes.

Position of Delta Commissioner

The position of Delta Commissioner as an independent government commissioner for the national Delta Programme is enshrined in the Water Act. The Delta Programme protects the Netherlands against high water and flooding, ensures there is enough fresh water and contributes to climate-resilient and water-robust planning for our country. The Delta Commissioner is appointed by the Crown and nominated by the Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management, and is responsible for monitoring the progress of the Delta Programme and advising the government, both upon request and at the Commissioner’s own initiative, about flood risk management, freshwater availability and spatial adaptation.

“Genuine water man”

Minister Harbers: “Peter Glas is a genuine water man. He has played, and continues to play, an important role in calling attention to the wide domain of water in the Netherlands and to how we must think today about the expected changes in the near and distant future. I am grateful for his efforts in recent years and pleased that we can continue to call on the services of this Delta Commissioner this year.”

Peter Glas: “The climate challenge is more urgent than ever: we are seeing more and more extreme wet and dry weather, and the sea level is rising faster on the Dutch coast as well. In everything we do now in the spatial domain, it is important to keep a close eye on the long term and link the agendas for nature, housing and the energy transition to the water system. So that every new development in the years to come will be genuinely climate-resilient.”