In 2025, as usual, we will put an extra spotlight on water (awareness) in all its facets around the period of World Water Day (22 March). With a new fully-fledged edition of our Fiere Rivieren – Rivières Fières campaign, we are once again bringing together water activities within our project area, across regional borders.
We had our European project supervisors visit us for a monitoring visit. The ideal opportunity for taking a moment to take stock of the project.
From 20 to 22 November 2024, Leuven welcomed the partner consortium of the Interreg North-West Europe project Rural Roadwater Rescue (RRR). The three-day programme included a partner meeting, a transnational inspiration afternoon and several visits to Flemish use cases relating to roadwater.
The Groebengracht receives large amounts of water during heavy rainfall due to runoff from the valley sides and surrounding plots. This regularly led to flooding downstream in Halle. Creating a new flood plain should help prevent this.
The Koningsvijvers form a connected chain of 12 ponds. The source region of the river IJse runs through it and feeds this system. The ponds are therefore not only scenic, but also possess cultural and natural value (Natura 2000). To date, rainwater running off the surface of the Brussels ring road is routed directly to the ponds, though that is about to change.
In the past few months, it has rained a great deal, so we were often confronted by very high water levels indeed. In that regard, the reconnection of the meanders in Vinkenberg, which was realised with support from LIFE Belini, is not only providing added value from an ecological perspective, but also in terms of buffering capacity.
Several temporary floodplains have already been constructed as part of our LIFE Belini project. These areas not only provide additional water storage during heavy rainfall, but also offer new opportunities for biodiversity. This became clear in the past few months during various audits
Today, the Molenbeek in Brussels flows in the open for most of its course, then flows through the wastewater collector downstream of the King Baudouin Park before emerging at the treatment plant in the north of the region. Bruxelles Environnement now launched a study to reconnect the Molenbeek with the Zenne.
Exchanging knowledge and experience is some important added value when participating in European projects. It can inspire one another to find solutions. After all the surrounding countries are mainly facing the same challenges as we are. At our last partner meeting, we met Rob Horsley of Rivers Trust, coordinator of the LIFE IP Natural Course project.
The Senne is the only river in Belgium that crosses all three regions of the country. Therefore, it is important that the different regions cooperate and exchange information with each other. Spread over two days, they therefore held an interregional meeting about managing innodations of the Senne.