In September, the Flemish Environmental Agency has launched the public investigation of the river basin management plans for Flanders.

These plans were carefully put together with the help of representatives from academia, governmental agencies and private sector. BOSAQ is proud to be a part of the workshops setting up and executing these management plans.

But what are these plans and why are they important?

The river basin management plans dictate what Flanders can do to improve surface and groundwater quality and quantity and how it can protect us from flooding and drought. Even thought the quality of our water ways have been improving over the years, achieving the goals of having water ways in a state of ‘good condition’ is still a work in progress. Only one out of 195 Flemish waterways is deemed as ‘good condition’... On top of that, recent droughts and flooding make a long-term vision more important than ever, as water supply and quality is under serious stress.

The river basin management plans provide concrete answers to how we can improve the local Flemish situation, while also reserving attention to the international nature of our water sources. Every six years, these plans are updated and this edition is the third generation. As the challenges increase, the efforts will increase as well to structurally tackle water stress using an integrated approach. The Blue Deal is a part of these plans to kick-start the campaign 2022-2027.
Some key components of the plans involve:

1. Collaboration is key to correctly address local and national topics.
   Measures to buffer and infiltrate water more effectively should prevent floods or droughts.
2. Businesses are incentivized to improve water efficiency by promoting water audits or water reuse practices.
3. Citizens are engaged and informed on the water challenges to get everyone to contribute to water savings.
4. Natural water elements are to be recovered, such as swamps, wet grass lands, lakes, meandering rivers, peatlands,...
5. Local governments will be incentivized and made responsible for setting up rainwater and drought plans to obtain water efficient cities and communities.
6. More monitoring of water use to better understand our losses should enable effective leak or excessive use detection.

Together with all stakeholders, these plans will be implemented and executed.

BOSAQ and Water Experts are proud to have been part of these efforts and are looking forward to implement these plans. Our experts can help your organisation operate more water efficiently to lower costs and improve sustainability.

Contact us if you want to help build a water efficient society 💧