STOCKAGE A LA SOURCE - WWF Belgium

Recensement des actions de stockage de l’eau en amont des bassins hydrographiques
6. Conclusions and perspectives
The 3 months training course realised in the context of the Master in Science and
Environment Management has fitted in a rivers sustainable management issue. The
outcome of this work is a collection of reviewed experiments, dedicated to the water
managers.
The project put forward by the WWF is innovative in the Meuse basin. It offers to
radically modify the present view of water management and to consider it in a more
sustainable way. To concretize this project, it is needed to make different branches to
work together for a common objective. At this level, the Fresh Water Unit can act as a
mediator. This is thus a multi-competences and multidisciplinary partnership project
(environmental, agricultural, industrial, administrative, academic… fields).
This land settlement and rehabilitation of water retention areas concept still needs
reflections. Notably, most of the fitting-outs cited in this work play a positive role at
several consideration levels, as they intervene positively in the water issue, but also in
the conservation and restoration of natural and semi-natural environments, floristic and
wildlife diversities, landscape diversity, and in the struggle against flows and erosion.
Moreover, we quickly noted that retention projects are relatively restricted and
isolated. To obtain efficient land settlements, it is needed on one hand, to multiply the
working areas and on the other hand, to combine several fitting-outs in one catchment
area.
From a scientific point of view, there is still one step to make; this is a regular
monitoring of a catchment area. To validate the observations, a partnership with a
university or a specialised agency should thus be promoted.
The storage at source concept answers a flood problem but we can’t forget that this
latter can’t be disconnected from the lack of water issue, which is not so easy to
highlight. This could be an asset to interest the firms in the issue and solutions offered
by the WWF through this project.
A technical knowledge of the land settlements is important for the project to take place.
My work in the WWF fits in this framework, as the experiments collection produced
gives a review of already existing realisations dedicated to a decrease of the floods and
to the water storage. However, it is needed to stay critical about this work, as it only
gives action tracks and suggestions.
Ways of thinking about land settlements in alluvial plains begin to change. Through
rivers recovery and meanders restoration, we observe a new will of more ecological
and sustainable rivers management downstream (France, Great-Britain, Swiss,
Luxemburg…). This consciousness should serve as example for a management
adaptation of the Meuse hydrographical basin.
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