Kees van der Leun
Dutch farmland has a major water quality problem, in part due to the overload of manure ending up in ditches. Turns out that farmers have found a workaround: in just 7 years, they made 30,000 ditches disappear by filling them up, 1/3 of those illegally.
Bad for biodiversity and water management.
https://www.volkskrant.nl/kijkverder/v/2026/hoe-de-sloten-in-nederland-verdwijnen~v2791210/
Hoe de sloten in Nederland verdwijnen

Jaarlijks verdwijnen duizenden sloten in Nederland, blijkt uit onderzoek van de Volkskrant, en dat gebeurt deels illegaal. Regels om de waterkwaliteit te verbeteren, geven boeren juist een prikkel om sloten dicht te gooien, en gemeenten handhaven nauwelijks. Wie daar kritisch op is, kan soms zelfs op intimidatie rekenen. ‘Als jullie terugkomen, druk ik met een shovel jullie auto in elkaar!’

de Volkskrant
Mar 7 at 8:55amWeb
Show threadthomasMar 7
@Sustainable2050 oh, they make less space for water, in the Netherlands? What could possibly go wrong?
Show threadnotsoloudMar 7
@Sustainable2050
There's no problem, water is perfectly capable of digging ditches for itself when it's really needed 😉
Show threadGrah am Jan zMar 7
@Sustainable2050 In Canada (or at least in Manitoba, where I'm from), it's been the same for decades. Farmers drain wetlands to increase crop size and poison the waterways with excessive pesticides and fertilizers. Draining wetlands is really shortsighted considering climate change is predicted to bring less rain and the capacity of the land to store water naturally has been destroyed. The gov tried to put in measures to protect wetlands years ago, the next gov got rid of those measures.
Show threadSimon DassowMar 7
@Sustainable2050 Every time this shit comes up I'm glad I invested in a water filter system. And it already paid itself compared to buying bottled water.
Show threadsherbangMar 7

@Sustainable2050 seems that properly enforcing these existing laws would help resolve some of the most difficult problems facing the government.

If enough of these farmers would be forced out of business by following the law, and sold their land, then perhaps that would help reduce some of the nitrogen pollution and land availability pressure?

Don't need new laws, just enforce the ones that already exist?

Show threadTilda Moose, citizenMar 7
@Sustainable2050
Hi, is this an interesting case for #permaculture #design solutions? Is there anything about the problem that could be seen as an opportunity?