PROWATER
Protecting and restoring raw water sources through actions at the landscape scale
Priority Axis
Adaptation to Climate ChangeSpecific objective
Adaptation to Climate Change
Lead partner
Vlaamse Overheid, Departement OmgevingContact
Begindatum
01/09/2018Einddatum
28/02/2023Project budget
5 526 624 €ERDF amount
3 315 974 €ERDF rate
60%Over
Common challenge
Build resilience against droughts (and water scarcity) by enhancing infiltration and water retention capacity of landscapes in regions of strategic importance for drinking water production. Climate projections for the 2 seas area, point towards dryer and warmer summers with more extreme and concentrated precipitation events (summer storms). This could result in a higher demand for water production (on hot, dry days, water consumption can triple). Increased water abstractions volumes during summer will have high impacts at an already critical moment for water dependent ecosystems. This will aggravate the conflict between water provisioning and biodiversity conservation. Restoring and developing blue-green structures in landscapes improves the hydrological resilience to droughts and floods, provides substantial climate mitigation benefits and benefits biodiversity.
Overall objective
Main outputs
Cross border approach
Main Achievements
No specific objectives or outputs have been delivered at this stage of the project.
But there has been a tremendous interest in the project due to the recent drought. The project is very relevant and timely. This implies that there have been significant efforts related to outreach and communication. The high regional and international attention for the project stimulates the project team to deliver on the raised expectations.
Workpackage 1 has been very active. We organised regional workshops to inform the many interested stakeholders about the project. In addition we already organised the first workshops that provide input to the foreseen SWOT analysis of the PES concept. This SWOT analysis will be one of the first substatial outputs of the projects and will be communicated widely.
Work package 2-3 are in preparation
Work package 4: The project partners that needed to start, have started their first activities according to plan or are even ahead of schedule.
Work package 5: A project manager has been put into place. The first financial claim has been made. The project group and steering committee have come together. The risk management plan and financial plan have been delivered.
Work package 6 is also going according to plan. The LP (communications manager) set up a communications working group and assigned the spokespersons per region. A communication plan has been set up to monitor and asses the progress of the campaigns. The project website and corporate style are in development. All partners were involved in the assesment and approval of the communication means.