waterschap - Everything2.com

The Netherlands is a country of water, as most of you will know. It's full of rivers, lakes and streams while large areas of land have been conquered over the sea, such as the entire province of Flevoland (which used to be the Zuiderzee, in English the Southern Sea). Not surprisingly, one of the oldest forms of democratic government in Western-Europe is a pure Dutch institute called waterschap.

According to my Dutch-English dictionary, the translation of waterschap comes closest to the British Conservancy or the American Board of Public Works. Shortly said it is a district water board, although the term waterschap is also used to describe the district itself. The entire Dutch country has been divided in districts, which are not along county or other administrative borders. At the end of this write-up you can find a list of all waterschappen in the Netherlands. The names of these water districts are reasonably cool in my humble opinion, because they mostly indicate historical regions that do not exist as such anymore, such as Zuiderzeeland, Sevenwolden, Westfriesland, Land van Nassau or Wilck en Wiericke. These names also prove the waterschap is an old administration, which actually dates back to the Middle Ages.

Every adult Dutchman is allowed to vote in the waterschap elections every four years. Hardly anyone takes the effort, although the water boards have an important function, namely that of water management, which is valuable in a country of dikes (or dykes if you like), sluices and locks. In general you can state that waterschappen are responsible for keeping the Dutch feet as dry as possible. Most significant therefore are the waterschappen in polders and those close to large water areas: the North Sea, the IJsselmeer and the rivers Rhine, Maas and IJssel. All water boards share responsibility for irrigation, drainage, water treatment and the maintenance of rivers and channels. And if for instance someone wants to build his house on a dike, he has to ask the waterschap for permission.

The waterschap executive committee is called hoogheemraad. Hoog means high, heem is old Dutch for home, and raad means council, but I would rather translate it as polder board. Each district has its own hoogheemraad with a so-called dijkgraaf as chairman, literally meaning earl of the dike.

Every tax-paying Dutch citizen pays a special fee for his own local waterschap. House owners pay extra.

All waterschappen in the Netherlands:

IJsselmeer	Flevoland	Zuider Zee	North Sea
Rhine	Dike	Conservancy	sluice
depression	Friesland	Middle Ages	Watership Down
The Netherlands