A unique front of Flemish and Dutch nature organisations and authorities is heading to the Council for Permit Disputes against Nyrstar's discharge permit. Natuurpunt, Bond Beter Leefmilieu, the Limburg Environmental Federation, Dryade, Natuurmonumenten, Water Board De Dommel, and eleven border municipalities reject the idea that economic interests continue to undermine the protection of clean water and vulnerable nature. The discharge of salts and toxic heavy metals threatens European protected species and habitats.
Although Minister Brouns slightly tightened the discharge standards for chloride and sulphate on paper, the fundamental problem remains unaddressed. The permit ignores the substandard condition of the Dommel and the legal obligation to improve it. While the minister wants to emphasise the importance of clean drinking water sources with his upcoming Drinking Water Plan, he simultaneously allows a company like Nyrstar to continue polluting our most valuable waterways with industrial waste.
“Citizens and local authorities can no longer accept this double standard: we cannot expect citizens to handle water responsibly while large polluters are allowed to continue degrading the quality of those same sources because purification technology would cost them too much,” say the Flemish organisations.
Ecological limit reached
The discharge of salts such as chlorides and sulphates and heavy metals such as selenium and thallium poses a direct threat to European protected nature, including the habitats of the kingfisher, the brook lamprey, and the crested newt. Many organisations are now drawing a clear line. In a time when biodiversity is declining everywhere, the ecological integrity of our nature must weigh more heavily than the short-term profits of industry. The principle of 'the polluter pays' must finally become a reality: “nature and local residents should no longer pay the price for the lack of willingness to invest by Nyrstar,” say the Flemish stakeholders.
Strategic procrastination at the expense of the Dommel
The Flemish environmental and nature organisations see the short permit period until the end of 2027 as a deliberate strategy of delay. Twenty-six years after the signing of the Water Framework Directive, Nyrstar still refuses to apply the most effective purification techniques. By granting the permit for only two years, the hot potato is being pushed forward again. Nyrstar is given extra time without the government enforcing the necessary investments in the best available techniques.
Not gone, but clean
The Flemish initiators emphasise that they are not advocating for the closure of the recycling department of Nyrstar Pelt. They do not want this activity to disappear, but to be clean. Nyrstar must finally invest in new purification techniques. The discharge permit offers a decisive opportunity for this.