Project results of Meuse working group FLOOD-WISE Sustainable flood management strategies for cross border river basins Fred van den Brink, River Basin Coordinator Meuse FLOOD-WISE Final Conference

Contents Meuse River Basin Partners Actions Results and lessons learnt Future cooperation

Meuse River Basin: focus and flood generation

Province of Limburg (NL) Directorate General of Region Walloon (W) Rijkswaterstaat (NL) Groupe Transversale Inondations (W) Waterdienst (NL) Waterboard Roer en Overmaas (NL) IMC as stakeholder / sound board (NL, Fl, W, F, D, L) Partners in Meuse wg

Actions Comparison of methods: flood risk assessment, mapping, management plans (pilot Gueule) Confrontation with demands Flood Directive Identification and exchange of good practices Recommendations (practical, technical, policy) Regional partner meetings: exchange of ideas, inventory reports Yearly conferences: workshops, political forum

Results: Inventory Reports 1. PFRA-phase: Inventory of water bodies which are at risk 2. FRM-phase: Cross-border flood hazard/risk maps 3. FRMP-phase: Inventory of goals and measures for management plan

1. Assessment: RIVERS WITH SIGNIFICANT FLOOD RISKS 1.Meuse river 2.Inventory of additional tributaries at risk: for cross-border streams applying upstream-downstream rule in province of Limburg. In Wallonia all non- navigational water bodies. Gueule pilot

2. Mapping: CROSS BORDER FLOOD HAZARD MAPS Cross-border mapping involves adjustment of coordinates, and agreement on risk-levels, water depths, models, etc. Methods: Hydrological modeling and soil maps AMICE

3. Planning: building blocks for FRMP International ‘umbrella’ part by IMC FRMP France FRMP Flanders FRMP Wallonia FRMP Nederland FRMP Germany Module Limburg Module Brabant Other Provinces Existing flood management plans are used as a starting point: International Flood Action Plan Meuse National and regional water policy and water management plans Calamity plans Plan PLUIES Limburg Module for national FRMP

Goals 1:250 safety level behind primary dikes along river Meuse Different safety levels along tributaries Measures: River widening via the project “Meuse works”: Common Meuse and Sand Meuse Dike improvement within Meuse works and further on Further river widening for reducing dike improvement compensation for the effects of climate change regional development Water storage and river widening along tributaries FRMP-Protection: examples Limburg

Within FLOOD-WISE, a cross-border Flood Risk Management Plan (FRMP) pilot project on the Gueule sub-basin was carried out. Main results: generating a catalogue of measure for implementatiion of FRMP in Wallonia establishing of a score system to classify the priority of actions per river creating a model for automation of a score system improvement of data and knowledge exchange with (cross- border) partners FRMP “Gueule sub-basin”: pilot implementation of EU Flood Directive in Wallonia

Comparison across the border Walloon region Top-down process and control Plan Pluies Many tributaries, high detail level Safety standards Meuse, but no regional safety standards Province of Limburg Bottom-up process with top-down control Limburg module 2012 Few tributaries, low detail level Safety standards Meuse and regional safety standards

German (LAWA) upstream-downstream rule Level of detail: which water bodies, which floods (causes, return periods)? Use same definitions: what do we mean with prevention, protection, calamity management? Cross-border harmonization of plans: solidarity principle, better crisis management, better communication: flexibility needed Lessons learnt

Future cross-border cooperation Improvement of online sharing of discharge and water level data Examination of cross-border effects of measures Further harmonization of flood hazard and flood risk maps and management plans Dissemination of results in IMC wg hydrology Interreg: AQUADRA, AMICE, FLOODWISE, …

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