While the quality of Dutch tapwater is high some sources of drinking water are not up to scratch because of ‘human intervention’, public health institute RIVM said on Thursday.

Some 60% of Dutch drinking water comes from underground resources and the rest from surface water sources. But the quality of half of all ground water sources are not up to standard because of pesticide run-off from farms, industrial pollution and waste disposal problems, the RIVM says.

The quality of surface water sources is poor in many cases because of residues from medicines, cosmetics, insecticides, fire retardants and other chemicals.

Waste water processing plants are not able to remove these elements properly so some end up in the environment, and therefore drinking water sources, the RIVM says.

The RIVM is calling for better monitoring of the environment close to drinking water sources.