Province of Gelderland: applying for an exemption for activities in an area containing a source of drinking water
A water catchment area is an area from which a water company extracts groundwater for drinking water. Groundwater protection areas are the areas directly around the water catchment areas. You can recognise these areas by the blue signs along the road with ‘waterwingebied’ (water catchment area) or ‘grondwaterbeschermingsgebied’ (groundwater protection area) on them. These areas remain clean to protect our drinking water. Therefore, regulations apply to activities in water catchment areas and groundwater protection areas. Some activities are prohibited in water catchment and groundwater protection areas. You can apply for an exemption or submit a notification in advance. The province can decide whether only a notification is sufficient or whether you need to apply for an exemption. Some activities are subject to an absolute ban. The exemption sets out the rules you must comply with. You are not allowed to carry out activities without an exemption or notification.
Go to our website for the conditions per situation or contact us.
We ask you to provide the following information (this applies to both the notification and the exemption):
- map with the location marked on it
- a drawing of the activity (if necessary)
- If more than 5,000 m3 of dredged material is applied, a site-specific investigation will take place on the basis of which it can be established that the risk of groundwater contamination will not increase.
Do you want to carry out activities in a groundwater protection area? In many cases, you need to notify the Province of this. If your activities are commercial, contact the environmental department of the region in which your company is located.
Notifications or applications for an exemption are free of charge.
The notification must be made minimally 3 weeks before the start of the activity. The processing period for exemption applications is 13 weeks.
If you disagree with a decision of the province and have an interest in that decision, you can file an objection. At the bottom of each decision you will find whether and within what time period you can filean objection and to whom you should address it. If you cannot file an objection with us, but there is another course of action available to you (such as filing an appeal with another authority), this will also be stated below the decision. More information can be found on our website.
If you have any questions please contact us by telephone +31 26359 9999.
Questions about this topic?
Contact the Province of Gelderland