21 water boards · 2025
BUDGET met?
15 of 21Dutch water boards spent no more in 2025 than the budget their general board adopted.
The water boards keep the dikes, the water levels and the treatment works, paid from taxes of their own. Their budgets are collected as data nowhere, so we read both sides from each board's own annual accounts, where the budget adopted before the year stands beside the outturn, since 2017. Together the boards budgeted €4,724 m of costs for 2025 and spent €4,620 m: −2.2%. Their revenue moved +2.6% from its budget.
spent €4,620 m
over budget in 6 of the 9 years since 2017
€4,595 m received against €4,479 m budgeted
Waterschap Zuiderzeeland
21 water boards · 2017–2025 · 189 annual accounts read, page by page · costs on the budget scale: under ← within 2% → over
Every board · 2025
Every water board against its budget
Each water board's costs against the budget its general board adopted, as a share of that budget. Those who did not file their accounts first, then the highest gap. Click a board for its page.
Year by year
Year by year
Costs against the budget, for all water boards together, and how many of them stayed within what they had adopted.
Spending against the budget
Who stayed within the budget
| Year | Listed | Within budget | Rules broken | Budgeted | Spent | Gap | Income gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 21 | 1571% | 0 | €4,724 m | €4,620 m | −2.2% | +2.6% |
| 2024 | 21 | 943% | 0 | €4,393 m | €4,368 m | −0.6% | +3.0% |
| 2023 | 21 | 419% | 0 | €3,970 m | €4,048 m | +2.0% | +4.0% |
| 2022 | 21 | 1048% | 0 | €3,614 m | €3,654 m | +1.1% | +3.6% |
| 2021 | 21 | 1048% | 0 | €3,432 m | €3,448 m | +0.5% | +4.0% |
| 2020 | 21 | 1362% | 0 | €3,325 m | €3,305 m | −0.6% | +3.6% |
| 2019 | 21 | 838% | 0 | €3,146 m | €3,182 m | +1.2% | +4.7% |
| 2018 | 21 | 733% | 0 | €3,022 m | €3,040 m | +0.6% | +3.7% |
| 2017 | 21 | 1152% | 1 | €2,838 m | €2,921 m | +2.9% | +2.8% |
Look up · 2025
All 21 water boards
Every water board: its budget against its accounts in 2025, its revenue's gap, and how often its costs came out over budget. Sort on a column, or click a board for its page.
Click a column's head to sort.
| Water board | Budget 2025 | Spent | Gap | Income gap | Years over | 2017–2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Waterschap Zuiderzeeland | €117 m | €119 m | +1.9% | +5.3% | 7 of 9 | |
| Waterschap Noorderzijlvest | €126 m | €128 m | +1.0% | +2.3% | 5 of 9 | |
| Waterschap Rijn en IJssel | €155 m | €156 m | +0.7% | +3.5% | 5 of 9 | |
| Waterschap Hunze en Aa's | €113 m | €113 m | +0.3% | +3.2% | 6 of 9 | |
| Hoogheemraadschap van Delfland | €318 m | €319 m | +0.2% | +3.7% | 7 of 9 | |
| Waterschap Aa en Maas | €198 m | €198 m | +0.2% | +3.0% | 7 of 9 | |
| Wetterskip Fryslân | €230 m | €230 m | 0% | +4.2% | 4 of 9 | |
| Hoogheemraadschap Hollands Noorderkwartier | €347 m | €346 m | −0.3% | +6.4% | 8 of 9 | |
| Waterschap De Dommel | €201 m | €199 m | −0.8% | +3.3% | 3 of 9 | |
| Waterschap Brabantse Delta | €226 m | €224 m | −0.9% | +1.4% | 2 of 9 | |
| Waterschap Hollandse Delta | €265 m | €262 m | −1.1% | +3.4% | 4 of 9 | |
| Waterschap Rivierenland | €287 m | €283 m | −1.1% | +1.7% | 7 of 9 | |
| Hoogheemraadschap van Rijnland | €333 m | €328 m | −1.2% | +1.9% | 5 of 9 | |
| Hoogheemraadschap van Schieland en Krimpenerwaard | €157 m | €154 m | −1.4% | +4.9% | 6 of 9 | |
| Waterschap Vallei en Veluwe | €222 m | €219 m | −1.5% | +2.3% | 3 of 9 | |
| Waterschap Scheldestromen | €181 m | €177 m | −2.4% | — | 6 of 9 | |
| Waterschap Limburg | €270 m | €263 m | −2.6% | +3.1% | 5 of 9 | |
| Hoogheemraadschap De Stichtse Rijnlanden | €225 m | €216 m | −4.4% | −1.5% | 2 of 9 | |
| Waterschap Drents Overijsselse Delta | €207 m | €196 m | −4.9% | −0.5% | 0 of 9 | |
| Waterschap Vechtstromen | €212 m | €194 m | −8.5% | −1.0% | 3 of 9 | |
| Waterschap Amstel, Gooi en Vecht | €335 m | €295 m | −12% | +1.6% | 6 of 9 |
Method
How this was measured
The water boards' budgets are not to be had as data. We read them from the boards' own documents, and checked every outturn against what the board filed as public data.
The documents
Each water board's annual accounts set the original budget, the amended budget and the outturn side by side, by cost type. We take the original budget and the outturn from them, page by page: 189 years since 2017, each with the file and the page it stands on.
The check
Every outturn was compared with the accounts the board filed as public data: in 175 of the 188 years the two differ by less than 1%. Where they differ more, the board's own accounts stand — budget and outturn then sit on the same lines.
What counts as costs
All costs before reserves and the result: interest, depreciation, staff, goods and services, contributions and provisions. Revenue is all income, the taxes included. Amendments during the year are part of the gap.
The rules
Every water board must file its annual accounts. One that did not counts as a budget not met and ranks first, as a municipality does. In 2017–2025 that happened 1 times.
Public data
The water boards' own budgets and annual accounts; the accounts they filed: CBS, CC BY 4.0. Compiled, checked and published by DopeCode. Updated 3 November 2026; new accounts are read every year after the summer.