In 1972 the Union of Waterboards and the Association of Dutch Municipalities drew up a directive to give waterboards and municipalities a guideline in how to divide tasks and costs in the new situations that were the result of the Pollution of Surface Waters Act, decreed in 1970. At 7 waterboards costs are still settled with (a part of) the municipalities based on the method proposed in the directive. Most waterboards have therefore already abandoned this cost distribution. With the use of several focus points an overview has been created through interviews and document analysis on the current use of the cost distribution based on the directive. Various aspects emerged from the interviews and documents that may play a role in the application of the cost distribution based on the 1972 Directive. In the end, 9 subjects were mentioned or discussed more often that could have a direct or indirect influence on the fact why the cost distribution is (still) applied. These subjects appear to influence whether or not a cost distribution is used on the basis of the 1972 Directive. It could be a correlation of various factors per waterboard, but it could also be a coincidence. All in all, it is clear that the cost distribution based on the 1972 Directive is being applied less and less. The distribution method is also not being reintroduced by water boards and municipalities.