01
About the Utility
Waternet was the joint water organisation of the City of Amsterdam and the Amstel, Gooi en Vecht water board (AGV), supplying drinking water to more than 1.4 million people in Amsterdam and surrounding areas in 2025. Constituted as a foundation, it carried out all of AGV’s water board tasks, including wastewater treatment, alongside Amsterdam’s water tasks, and it must supply drinking water at cost, making neither profit nor loss. Amsterdam and AGV were fully liable for any deficits in proportion to the tasks assigned. After both executive boards advised a split in May 2024, two separate water organisations have existed since 1 January 2026.
02
Water System
Waternet’s drinking water comes from river water taken from the Lek at Nieuwegein and seepage water from the Bethunepolder, with production sites including Leiduin in the Amsterdam Water Supply Dunes and Weesperkarspel. Leiduin produces 70 billion litres a year, and a 2025 permit allows expansion to 75 billion. Capacity is the binding constraint: Waternet states its current sources are sufficient only until 2030, and a record demand day in July 2025 underlined the pressure. Microbiological quality is strong, with no E. coli detected at either site, but both reported sulfamic acid results above the standard to the national inspectorate.
Drinking water production
Waternet drinking water production, million m³ per calendar year, 2015–2025 (2017 and 2018 not retained)
Company-level actuals from successive Vewin key-figures editions; no values for 2017 or 2018 are shown.
Sources: Vewin, Kerngegevens drinkwater / Drinking water fact sheet, editions 2016, 2017 and 2020–2026.03
Wastewater System
Waternet treated the wastewater of the Amstel, Gooi en Vecht water board, which in 2015 meant operating 12 treatment plants. It also carried out Amsterdam’s water tasks, where the city’s sewerage programme records about 3,900 km of sewers and a replacement need of roughly 65 km a year as the network ages. Delivering that renewal is the main constraint: the programme notes that fewer than 30 km may actually be replaced of 40 km planned at the start of a year. Since the split, these water-board and city roles sit in separate organisations.
04
Investment & Priorities
Waternet’s investment priorities centre on supply capacity and system security. The largest is the Leiduin expansion, which would lift dune production from 70 to 75 billion litres a year under its new permit. Earlier commitments added an extra EUR 1 million a year to filter PFAS and EUR 2 million a year for digital security from 2022. Borrowing has grown alongside: outstanding loans had risen to EUR 90.3 million by the end of 2022.
05
Sustainability & Resilience
Waternet’s own carbon footprint fell sharply after it switched to Dutch wind power and green gas, and it reports having already met its target of a 94% cut against 2019. Institutional resilience has been the larger question. The national inspectorate placed Waternet under enhanced supervision after finding insufficient control over cybersecurity, and the shareholders judged the shared structure vulnerable before the organisation was divided into separate water-board and city bodies.
06
Key Challenges
- Securing new drinking water capacity before current sources reach their limit after 2030.
- Delivering a clean transition of tasks after the split into two water organisations.
- Resolving reported sulfamic acid and chlorate exceedances while meeting the new PFAS standard.
- Accelerating sewer replacement, where delivery has lagged the annual renewal need.
- Strengthening cybersecurity governance after enhanced supervision by the national inspectorate.