After 2030, it may not be possible to meet the increasing demand for drinking water with existing sources. This makes it important to focus on water-saving measures and new sources of drinking water. To prevent unnecessary purification, it is important to keep all water sources for drinking water as clean as possible. This emerged from a RIVM study of developments that will impact the drinking water supply of the future.
RIVM studied the drinking water supply for 2030 to 2050. It found that the increased demand for drinking water caused by population growth could put the drinking water supply under pressure after 2030, even if drinking water is saved. Climate change could also affect the availability of water and demand for it. Moreover, the quality of drinking water sources is often inadequate, making extra purification necessary.
Availability of water and new sources
Currently, there are periods when there is a shortage of fresh groundwater for the production of drinking water. One potential option could be to use brackish groundwater as well. Brackish water is a mixture of salt water and freshwater. Seawater and purified wastewater could be used in the future as well. However, these sources require more purification than traditional sources do. Added to this, laws and regulations must be amended before these new sources can be used for drinking water production. Drinking water companies must also be able to switch easily to different sources whenever less water is available.
More purification required due to poorer quality
The availability and quality of water available for use as drinking water are both under pressure because of discharges into surface water and climate change. Droughts reduce water availability and may also lead to salinisation. Surface water can become too warm, causing the increased growth of unwanted bacteria, and it can become contaminated with wastewater after heavy rain. Because of this, additional measures may be needed to ensure the quality of drinking water. It is expected that these climate effects will crop up more often in future.
Better to keep water clean than to make it clean
Many drinking water companies expect that more purification will be necessary in future to ensure good-quality drinking water, for example by using membrane filters, which can produce very clean drinking water. As the water purification process is very expensive and energy-intensive, it is important for the water in sources of drinking water to become cleaner. This will minimise the amount of water to be purified by drinking water companies. The Netherlands is working towards the goals of the European Water Framework Directive.
Context of this study
RIVM conducted this study on behalf of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management. It follows on from the 2023 report about the availability of drinking water up to 2030. The Ministry responded to this report by launching an action plan for the availability of drinking water sources in 2023–2030 (Actieprogramma beschikbaarheid drinkwaterbronnen 2023-2030).