Gardeners must protect their own drinking water

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ARNHEM (ANP)- Nearly half of the hobby gardens living in a watering area use chemical pesticides. Vitens water management company calls that worry because these substances enter the drinking water. 'By refraining from this kind of means, gardeners can help protect their own drinking water source,' said a spokeswoman on Friday.

For example, in such a protected area it is forbidden to discharge wastewater. Cars should not be washed and oil repairs may not be in these protected areas. Vitens calls on gardeners to minimize the use of pesticides as much as possible. It is mainly herbicides and pesticides against animal pests.

Research by Kantar Public on behalf of Vitens shows that there are regional differences. For example, Gelderland accounts for 44 percent of the gardeners and in Overijssel 48 percent use chemical pesticides. Flevoland is 58 percent headliner. The survey was held at the end of March among over a thousand gardeners.

Last autumn, it became known that many Dutch people do not know what a groundwater protection area does, even if they live there. They can easily find out about it via the website Drinking water. Nl.