The Netherlands officially has a water shortage, and we are also threatened with extra measures if it does not rain in the next fourteen days. According to experts, Flanders should also take structural measures to be better equipped against drought in the future. “We have had mismanagement for years, which has to change,” says weather woman Jill Peeters.
The Dutch water shortage mainly affects shipping and agriculture. In some places, watercourses are no longer navigable and farmers are no longer allowed to pump water to irrigate their crops. More measures may follow in the coming weeks. There is currently no shortage of drinking water, so a ban on spraying is not (yet) an issue.
The situation in Flanders is similar and, according to experts, additional measures are also necessary here. At the moment ‘code orange for drought’ applies, which means that no water may be pumped from unnavigable waterways. Barely any precipitation is expected for the next two weeks, except for a few local showers.
In order to monitor the drought in Flanders, experts look at, among other things, the flow of the Meuse. Two weeks ago, that dropped below 60 cubic meters per second, after which ‘code orange’ was announced. Today, that flow rate has already dropped to 45 cubic meters per second, once it drops below 40, additional measures are needed. “I expect additional measures along canals, along navigable waterways. In the long term, there may also be a ban on spraying for citizens and a request to the industry not to withdraw water,” says Professor Patrick Willems, professor of hydrology at KU Leuven.
“Flanders must better arm itself against drought”
Professor Willems says he is “very concerned” about the current drought. “We are seeing that the long dry periods are advancing more and more due to climate change,” it sounds. “We will have to arm ourselves better in Flanders against these kinds of phenomena.”
That’s what weather forecaster Jill Peeters thinks. “We need at least a year and a half to recover from this, and the problem is getting worse by the day,” she says in the VTM Nieuws studio. Moreover, Flanders is one of the most vulnerable areas in Europe when it comes to drought. “We are doing worse than parts of France, Spain and Italy. That has not only to do with rain, but how we deal with that water”, says Peeters. According to the climate expert, we urgently need to think better about how we deal with water. “We have to think about where we live and work, which roads we lay and where, we have to give space to our waterways,” she says.
“For years we have had mismanagement, we had no vision about how we should deal with that water. We spent years working on how to get the water out as quickly as possible, and that needs to change. We must also dare to keep that precious good with us.”
See also: “Not much precipitation is expected in the coming period either”
Water shortage for farmers, problems for industry and drinking water supply are already lurking around the corner(+)
“Tap water will become on average 10 percent more expensive”: What consequences will another two weeks of drought have for our agriculture, nature and drinking water?(+)
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