this can result in extreme measures for those irrigators wishing or needing to continue to apply water to their crops for instance by resorting to trucking in water from other locations a costly way to manage shortage however there is an expectation that dutch water shortages will become more frequent in the future so the limitations of the current approach are likely to become more evident while priority regime banning may seem adequate as a shortterm emergency measure if regions need to limit andor periodically ration water abstraction on a regular or even permanent basis then development of a more sophisticated control regime is vital a more sophisticated control regime is worthy of serious consideration especially as it can complement the other options establishment of a water licensing or permitting regime that covers most agricultural forms of water use is the first step in transitioning to a regime designed to limit access