Creating drought resilient areas

The 2-Seas programme area is increasingly confronted with problems related to water scarcity and drought. In most areas, drought-related problems principally affect farmland and natural habitats. It is expected, however, that also drinking water supplies can become endangered if the duration and frequency of drought periods will further increase. Drought-related problems are caused by climate change, but also by population increase and urbanisation. Consequently, the regions within the 2 Seas area will need to develop strategies to use their water resources in a more efficient and optimised way. In order to do so, sufficient knowledge is required about the water system’s short-term and long-term vulnerability and coping capacity, in relation to drought problems. Within the province of East-Flanders, this knowledge is so far lacking. With their current knowledge base, water managers today are unable to estimate when local water levels become critical, to define from which watercourses water can still be subtracted and to develop long-term policies for drought-resilient areas. Therefore, this Interreg 2 Seas project pursues the following: 1. Building a knowledge base of water flows within a pilot area. 2. Developing an integrated policy for drought resilience.

1. Building a knowledge base of water flows within a pilot area. Based on gauge data and other available data sets, a holistic inventory of water demand, supply and drainage systems is assembled. The analysis should make clear where water supply and demand are located, how different types of water flows (rain, drinking, process, grey water) are distributed through the area, and where shortages and missing links are at hand. 2. Developing an integrated policy for drought resilience. The policy includes both short- and long-term measures. On the short term, an information system is developed to guide farmers where to distract water in drought periods. Next to that, quick-wins are carried out to address missing links in the water system. Concerning long-term policy, a framework is created to guide spatial development in the area. This should lead to a spatial structure and land use with an optimal fit to the water system, in order to enable a more efficient use of water. The policy should also facilitate and foster the potential of decentralised water systems, where relevant.

Increasing the resilience of an area for drought. These results will be used as a pilot case for other parts of the 2 Seas programma area.

Develop an approach that is tested in different parts of the 2 Seas programme. Potentially, cross-border actions can be carried out on the field in some pilot cases. Through regular meetings and field visits, the partners assist each other to develop an approach an optimal approach.