{"id":5933,"date":"2019-02-18T23:56:42","date_gmt":"2019-02-18T23:56:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/?p=5933"},"modified":"2019-03-08T09:21:48","modified_gmt":"2019-03-08T09:21:48","slug":"what-are-the-waterschappen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/dutch\/what-are-the-waterschappen\/","title":{"rendered":"What are the Dutch Waterschappen?"},"content":{"rendered":"

De Waterschappen<\/em>. If you live in the Netherlands, you have undoubtedly heard of these institutions. But what exactly are they? What are their responsibilities? And why do the Dutch get to vote for their\u00a0waterschappen\u00a0<\/em>in an election alongside the provincial elections?<\/p>\n

De taak van een<\/strong> waterschap<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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All 21 waterschappen<\/em> in the Netherlands. As you can see, they loosely correspond with the 12 provinces of the country. (Image by Janwillemvanaalst at Commons.wikimedia.org under license CC BY SA 4.0)<\/p><\/div>\n

So, first of all – what is<\/span> a\u00a0waterschap<\/em>? A\u00a0waterschap\u00a0<\/em>(literally “watership”, a “water board”) is a regional organisation that is\u00a0verantwoordelijk\u00a0<\/em>(responsible) for the\u00a0waterhuishouding\u00a0<\/em>(water management)\u00a0in an region. For example, it makes sure that\u00a0drinkwater\u00a0<\/em>(drinking water) is of good quality and that the country is kept dry. Because remember: A big part of the Netherlands is below sea level<\/a>. And that makes these\u00a0waterschappen\u00a0<\/em>extremely important for the Dutch.<\/p>\n

Waterschappen\u00a0<\/em>are sometimes also referred to as\u00a0hoogheemraadschappen\u00a0<\/em>for historical reasons.<\/p>\n

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Waterschapsverkiezingen<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/h2>\n
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Image by Tom at Flickr.com under license CC BY SA 2.0)<\/p><\/div>\n

The\u00a0waterschapsverkiezingen\u00a0<\/em>(water board elections) are held on March 20, 2019, alongside the verkiezingen <\/em>for the\u00a0provinciale Staten\u00a0<\/em>(States-Provincial, provincial governments that elect the representatives in the\u00a0Eerste Kamer<\/em>, the Dutch Senate). Holding the elections alongside a more important election has led to a higher voter turnout in the past.<\/p>\n

However, such a\u00a0waterschap<\/em> sounds like a regular governmental body – so why the elections?<\/p>\n