Every four years in the Netherlands we elect the members of the Provincial Council and the members of the general board of the water boards. They concern the daily management of the province and the water board. But what do you actually choose? What are the Provincial Council and the water boards about? What are their tasks and what do the Provincial Council and the water boards have to do with each other?
The Provincial Council
What are the Provincial Councils?
The Provincial Council is the people’s representatives of the province, just as the members of the House of Representatives are for the entire country and the municipal council is for the municipality. The chairman of the Provincial Council is the King’s Commissioner.
What do the Provincial Council do?
The Provincial Council determines the policy for the province and controls the Provincial Executive, which forms the day-to-day administration of the province. The tasks that fall within this are:
- provincial spatial planning and public housing
- provincial environmental management
- provincial society and culture
- the water management of the province
- economic and agricultural affairs, tourism and recreation in the province
- provincial public transport
- supervise the municipalities of the province
Another important task of the Provincial Council is that the members elect the members of the Senate once every four years. Through the Provincial Council elections, the citizens of the Netherlands have influence on the composition of the Senate.
The Provincial Council elections
During the Provincial Council elections, the citizens of the Netherlands elect the members of the Provincial Council. They form, as it were, the parliament of the province. The more inhabitants a province has, the more members of parliament a province has. The provinces of Flevoland and Zeeland have the fewest number of members of Parliament, 39. The provinces of North Brabant, North Holland and South Holland have the most members of Parliament, namely 55.
The water boards
What are the water boards?
A water board is a regional level of government in the Netherlands, and is also called the water board. The water board is a government organization just like municipalities and provinces, but the water boards in the Netherlands are divided differently from the provinces. There are 23 water boards in the Netherlands.
The task of water management was laid down in the constitution as early as 1848 . Keeping water out and draining excess water was of general importance and forced the polder residents to work together. The water board areas were created to prevent municipalities from only arranging water management for themselves and thus burdening neighboring municipalities with flooding. The water boards were created from these interests and need to work together.
What do the water boards do?
As the name suggests, the water boards are concerned with the care of the water and the associated technology (water management). This implies:
- the care of flood defenses in the region
- the amount of water
- the quality of the water
- the care of the waterways and waterways
A number of concrete tasks of the water board are, for example: purifying wastewater, managing dikes and checking the quality of bathing water. In order to do this, the citizens of the Netherlands pay taxes to the water board.
The water board elections
Every four years, the general board of the water boards is elected through water board elections. By voting, citizens can participate in decisions about how their tax money is spent and the influence on the water board’s working methods. This board includes various representatives and stakeholders, such as companies, farmers, residents and nature managers. The exact number of board members depends on the size of the water board. The chairman of a water board is called the dike grapher.
The Provincial Council and the water boards
The elections of the Provincial Council and the water boards take place at the same time in the Netherlands, but do they have anything to do with each other? Although the two administrative bodies have different tasks, it is not without reason that we elect them at the same time. For example, the tasks of the water board are not exclusively about water, but they also have interfaces with, for example, spatial planning and environmental management. It is therefore important that there is good coordination between the water boards and the municipalities and provinces. In addition, it is the province’s task to establish and abolish water boards. The province also monitors how the water boards function.