Barge and tractors maintain canals from the waterside

ENS – Maintaining Dutch waterways and shoulders is an ongoing challenge for Dutch Water Boards, the country’s 26 waterschappen. Contractors with barges that are outfitted with tractors and their specialized long-arm equipment, safely perform their work from the middle of the canal. The equipment is able to reach the sloping canal banks and ‘wet shoulders,’ which can be as wide as eight metres. The role of the Water Boards has expanded in recent decades, in addition to dikes and drainage, the work now includes nature preservation by the use of methods that enhance diversity of waterside plant life. In some areas of the country, operators have for decades cut reeds on wet shoulders from specially equipped boats.