Maintenance of waterways and structures: what you need to do

The specific actions you need to take depend on how the maintenance takes place: 

Maintenance from the shore 

• Check for adequate clearance along the watercourse: 
• For watercourses narrower than 4 meters: Health for a strip of at least 5 meters of free and passable space on one side. 
• For watercourses 4 to 6 meters wide: Health for at least 5 meters of clear and passable space on both sides. 
• Space for vehicles: At junctions and corners, check that there is sufficient space for maintenance vehicles to turn (turning radius of 21 meters). Is this not possible? Health for a turning area. 
• Keep adequate distance between structures: Health that when constructions are placed there is at least 5 meters of clearance between them so that maintenance with the mowing basket remains possible. If new structures are placed, they can connect directly to existing structures, as long as this does not interfere with maintenance of the watercourse. 

Action Item: Check that your situation meets these requirements and remove any obstructions that may make maintenance difficult. 

Maintenance from the water 

• Check the dimensions of the waterway: 
• Is the waterway at least 8 meters wide at the waterline and 1.2 meters deep? This is required for maintenance boats to perform maintenance in an ecologically sound manner. 
• At splits or sharp corners, the watercourse must be at least 10 meters wide. 
• Health for unloading sites for grass clippings: Health that there is an unloading site every 200 meters, accessible to vehicles. The unloading site should be at least 10 meters long and the ground level should not exceed 50 cm above the water level. 
• Passage at dams and bridges: Waterways that are maintained by navigation must be passable everywhere, even at locations with structures such as dams and bridges. If you want to deviate from this, you can consult with the Water Board about this. If passage is not possible everywhere, turning areas must be constructed (diameter of 10 meters). 

Action Item: Inspect the waterway and Health where necessary for adjustments in width, depth or turn and release areas. 

Maintenance of works of art 

• Accessibility: Check that bridges, culverts and other structures are accessible to maintenance equipment. 
• Clearance: The following applies to non-permeable structures (such as non-permeable culverts): 
• For maintenance from land: In order to carry out maintenance work, there must be at least 10 meters of free space on both sides of the structure, possibly on the dam itself. 
• For maintenance from the water: The watercourse on both sides of the non-navigable structure must be at least 10 meters wide to allow for boating maintenance.  

Action Item: Health that works of art remain accessible and that there are no obstacles that make maintenance difficult. 

In some situations it is not possible to fully comply with the guidelines, for example due to limited space or special circumstances. In such cases, please contact us to discuss what is needed to make maintenance still possible.

Action point: Report special situations or restrictions in time so that we can look for a solution together. It is then possible to deviate from the rules via a tailor-made regulation. See the page Customization regulation: what you need to know.

• Check for adequate clearance along the bank and around structures.
• Check the width, depth and passage of the waterway.
• Health for adequate unloading areas and turning circles.
• Report timely special situations in which you cannot meet the guidelines.