Maintenance and inspection of watercourses

Wider ditches: does everything have to go?

Inspection ditches must be clean. When the water authority carries out inspections, it pays particular attention to the flow in the inspection ditch and whether the storage capacity of the ditch has decreased. In 2026, the water authority will see whether certain criteria for cleaning an inspection ditch can be adjusted. If you have any questions about this, please feel free to contact the water authority.

Annual inspection in November

In October, we finalise the inspection map for the current year. It lists approximately 1,300 kilometres of ditches that we will inspect to assess their state of maintenance. The water authority will start the actual inspections at the beginning of November. 
Owners of land along ditches always have a duty to maintain the ditches that belong to their plot. This also applies to ditches that are not listed on the inspection map.
If poor maintenance causes problems with water management, the water authority can hold you accountable. We are then authorised to enforce maintenance. We can then apply an 'administrative order'.

Inspection map

Our inspection map. Colours on the map Geo.noorderzijlvest.nl/schouwkaart:

• The dark blue watercourses are maitained by the water authority.
• The light blue watercourses must be maintained by the adjacent plot owners.
• The red watercourses are ditches that are maintained by adjacent plot owners and are inspected in any case (the actual inspection map).

If for any reason you are unable to read the inspection map, please let us know. Send an email to: schouw@noorderzijlvest.nl.
 

Geo.noorderzijlvest.nl/schouwkaart

Who is responsible for maintaining the ditch?

The owner of the ditch is responsible for carrying out maintenance or having it carried out. If it is not entirely clear who the owner is, please note the following points:

• The water authority information about who is responsible for maintenance is binding for carrying out maintenance or for having it carried out. The principles for this are set out in the Water Authority Regulations (Article 2.7, first paragraph under c, second and third paragraphs, and Appendix 3):  Water Authority Regulations 2023 | Local legislation and regulations
• We use the ownership details as recorded by the Land Registry. It is possible that plots and therefore watercourses changed ownership over time. It is possible that a new ownership situation has not been reported automatically to the Land Registry. You can take action yourself at the Land Registry.
• The maintenance of a ditch is often a shared responsibility between the adjacent owners. Both are subject to the maintenance obligation. Parties who are designated as responsible for carrying out maintenance are expected to reach agreements between themselves about how the maintenance will be carried out. The water authority is not involved in this.
• It is common for the municipality to clean the entire ditch along its own land. If the inspection reveals that the ditch is not yet clean, both owners - including the municipality as road administrator - will receive a letter about this. In this case, maintenance is also a joint responsibility.
• You must keep the sloping embankment along a road or ditch on your own side of the property free of vegetation. This also applies to any culvert or bridge in the driveway to your own property. Here too, the flow must be good.
• In addition to native flora and fauna, there are also invasive aquatic plants that are not native to the Netherlands and cause nuisance. Species such as giant water pennywort must be carefully removed to prevent further spreading. For more information on control and identification, see: Invasive exotic species | NVWA.

Inspection has been carried out, but maintenance has not yet been performed.

It is possible that our inspection was carried out before the maintenance was done. At that point, the ditch was formally rejected. We will then send you a letter with that finding. In such cases, we always reassess the maintenance during a so-called re-inspection. The letter will also state the period in which we will do this.

If you need more time than we indicate in this letter, please contact us by sending an email to schouw@noorderzijlvest.nl. We can then make additional arrangements.

Enforce maintenance

If the maintenance has not been carried out after a re-inspection, you are in violation. In such a case, we can enforce the maintenance.

• We will then use an administrative order. We will announce this in a letter.
• At that point, you still have the opportunity to carry out the maintenance yourself or have it carried out.
• If you don't, the water authority will carry out the maintenance.
• The costs will then be paid by the person or persons who are responsible for the maintenance.
• The water authority has this power under the Regional Water Authorities Act, the Environment and Planning Act, and the General Administrative Law Act.

The amount charged in this extreme case varies depending on the situation: the General Administrative Law Act states that the costs we incur as a result of applying an administrative order will be charged. These costs include the costs of the contractor carrying out the work, plus administrative costs, and the costs of additional supervision.