Alderman .J. (Evert Jan) Slootweg

Together with you, as residents, we want to make the municipality greener and less built-up. Together with you, we can better prepare for periods of excessive rain, drought, or heat.

Our municipality is experiencing more frequent and much heavier rainfall. But it is also becoming drier more often and to a greater extent. Finally, we will face periods of prolonged and extreme heat. In January 2025, the municipal council our new Climate Plan. It outlines the measures we will implement over the next five years.

By taking these measures, we can better protect ourselves against extreme weather events. We have already taken significant steps in this direction in recent years. For example, we have worked together to remove paving stones and restore green spaces. This measure reduces the strain on our sewer system during periods of heavy rainfall. But we want to take further action.

Together with the water authority, we are creating climate buffers to prepare for periods of drought. These are reservoirs where we store water. During prolonged dry spells, we can release water from these reservoirs. Farmers, in particular, use this extra water for their crops. We hope this will prevent the need to ration water.

To combat prolonged periods of extreme heat, we are planting more greenery. The (additional) trees provide more shade. They also help water evaporate, which cools the air. A green environment heats up much more slowly than a paved one. As a result, the air temperature rises more slowly on hot days, and nights are cooler. That’s why I’m so happy about the paving campaign for our residents.

Finally, we are taking measures to address periods of heavy rainfall. Our villages are heavily paved, and there are significant elevation changes. As a result, rainwater runs off quickly along sidewalks and roads. That is why we are digging additional ditches and disconnecting from the sewer system more frequently. We are also planting more greenery and trees to help with this. This way, we can keep our feet dry.

We develop plans in collaboration with the water board and the province. But we’d also like to involve you, as a resident. We need your help to make the municipality greener and less paved. Together with you, we can better prepare for periods of excessive rain, drought, or heat.

Evert Jan Slootweg,Alderman
Alderman

As a municipality, we try to communicate with you, our residents, in many different ways. For example, through articles in the Maas&Waler, on our website, and via Facebook and Instagram. We are also increasingly using apps, which allow us to communicate with you more quickly and effectively.

Two examples. In Wamel , we Wamel working on Dorpsstraat. We aim to achieve several goals with the redesign. For example, we want to design the road so that driving at a maximum of 30 km/h becomes the norm. The road will then no longer encourage speeding. We also aim to restore the “village and historic character” of Dorpsstraat, replace the current sewer system, and install a storm sewer. We hope the work will be completed in November. We’re using an app Wamel keep residents of Dorpsstraat, as well as interested residents of Wamel of the progress. Currently, more than 150 residents are using the app.

A second example is the BuitenBeter app. With the new BuitenBeter , you can easily report issues such as loose sidewalk tiles, litter, or broken streetlights.  In the app, you can see if someone else has already reported the issue. You can track the report or see if it is pending or has been resolved. You can also submit reports via the BuitenBeter anonymously. The BuitenBeter replaces the MijnGemeente app. We made this change because the new app is easier to use, more user-friendly, and more modern. The app offers more features and better integration with our system. This allows us to process your report more quickly.

Does this mean we will only communicate with our residents via apps from now on? Absolutely not! We are still happy when you pick up the phone or send an email to make a report. We hope that by using these new techniques, we can communicate with you more and faster. For example, to keep West Maas en Waal clean and safe together.

Evert Jan Slootweg,Alderman
Alderman

More and more people are demanding more electricity. For example, because they no longer drive gasoline-powered cars but electric cars instead. Or they have a heat pump and use little to no gas to heat their homes. As a result, the demand for electricity has increased dramatically. We expect it to increase even further.

But it’s not just that people are demanding more electricity; they are also increasingly generating it themselves. For example, because they have solar panels. And when I say “people” or “residents,” I also mean businesses and organizations. We, as a municipality, are also demanding more electricity, and we are also generating it.

This presents Liander, our grid operator, with enormous challenges. The grid operator installs cables and lines and manages the energy grid. They ensure that energy suppliers can deliver power through their cables and lines. This requires, among other things, transformer stations.

As the grid becomes increasingly congested, more transformer stations are needed. It’s actually just like on the road—traffic is getting heavier.
In some parts of the Netherlands, the power grid is so overloaded that there isn’t enough capacity for everyone. Anyone who needs additional power or applies for a new (higher-capacity) connection sometimes has to wait a long time.

Over the next few years, 50,000 new transformer stations will be installed in the Netherlands. This means that one in three streets will be dug up. In our municipality, this will likely involve 100 additional transformer stations. As a municipality, we have decided to retain ownership of the land. We are granting the grid operator a right of superficies.

Not everyone will be happy about the installation of more transformer stations. And the disruption caused by dug-up streets is also annoying. But if we don’t do this, there’s a high risk of a power grid failure, and the likelihood of blackouts will increase.
The energy transition will only succeed if we’re willing to work together, be flexible, and listen to one another.

Alderman Jan Slootweg