How wetlands help cities fight floods in Belgium

When heavy rain falls on Sandra Busselot's steep street in Mechelen, northern Belgium, torrents of water rush toward her front door. Twice in recent years, the water has risen to the threshold, once stopping just short of flooding her home."Once the water is in your house, it's too late," Busselot told DW. "You can never sell your house at a good price again."The city's aging sewer system can't cope with increasingly intense rainfall, leaving streets like Busselot's prone to flooding.It's a problem people across the Flanders region face. The country's most densely populated and urbanized area, it has the highest degree of urban sprawl in Europe. Lots of sealed surfaces leave rainwater with nowhere to go, increasing flood risks.A Mechelen resident for 20 years, Busselot has watched the weather grow more extreme. She and her husband no longer feel safe and are considering moving."We like our home," she said. "But I'm not sure it's smart to stay." Alongside flooding, droughts are becoming more common. When she first moved in, the rainwater tank in her garden would run dry only at the end of August. Now, it's often empty by May, sometimes even April.

"We have a garden that is very dark and wet, but in the last couple of years, it's also very dry," she said.Giving rivers space in Flanders This part of Flanders is known for its wetlands, marshes, temperate maritime climate and frequent rain. But the region now faces two extremes: drought and excess water. The River Scheldt and its tributaries remain vital arteries for the local economy, yet centuries of human engineering have altered their natural flow. Generations of farmers expanded their fields by creating polders — land reclaimed from the water by building dikes to drain submerged areas for agriculture. These interventions have also contributed to today's flooding problems."We had taken too much space from the river," said Hans De Preter, head of infrastructure at Flemish Waterway, which manages rivers and canals in Flanders. "We had to give some of the space back."After a devastating flood in the 1970s, authorities launched the Sigma Plan, the region's first comprehensive flood-management strategy. It combined hard infrastructure such as dikes and quays with controlled flood zones that act as buffers, protecting upstream areas from worst-case scenarios. Over time, the plan has been upgraded to address worsening climate change.In the past 20 years, hundreds of kilometers of new and reinforced dikes and quays have been built, including a restoration of the Scheldt quays in Antwerp, the river's largest city and regional hub.At the same time, some areas have undergone "depoldering" — removing inner dikes to give the river more room. Thousands of acres of farmland were expropriated to create flood zones and nature reserves, a move that initially faced fierce resistance. At first, people saw no benefits, and farmers were unhappy. Even with compensation, "they don't like to lose land," Dirk Gorrebeeck, a lifelong resident of the village of Kruibeke in Flanders, told DW.'The greater good'The Sigma Plan now draws visitors from around the world, who want to learn about its climate-adaptation methods and how to apply them at home. Some delegations focus solely on public communication or managing opposition. "They are trying to learn what we are doing and how we are doing it," said Stefaan Nollet, a project engineer with Flemish Waterway.Gorrebeeck, who is a local tour guide, remembers the program's early days.

"In the beginning, everything was closed. We couldn't walk there. The feeling of the area was very negative, and people were very much against it," he said.Officials say they used targeted outreach to win over residents. "If we did an overall information evening, only the people who are against would come and protest," Nollet said.Instead of large meetings, they approached groups individually, starting with nature organizations, and took time to talk to people.

In the end, locals were swayed not just by discussion but also by being able to use the space for recreation, learn about its history and have beautiful, vibrant nature within reach."Even farmers accepted it over time — mostly because the compensation they received was reasonable, and especially because it was for the greater good," Gorrebeeck said.Similar projects are now underway on the outskirts of Mechelen, where local environment organization Natuurpunt is restoring wetlands.

Project coordinator Amelia Ilieva said the wetlands could hold the equivalent of 200 Olympic swimming pools, storing water during heavy rains and slowly releasing it in dry periods.The city is also separating rainwater from sewage to prevent storm overflows and replacing paved areas with green spaces to let water soak into the soil. But skepticism remains. Ilieva said some residents "don't understand that we are trying to prevent floods by making nature wetter."

She added that clear communication, visible results and community involvement are key. Some residents say planned action 'not enough'Busselot said she supported the city's anti-flood measures but worries that opening pavements and planting greenery are merely "window dressing."In her two decades here, she has watched large trees vanish from her neighborhood to make way for construction. "That's kind of a double standard in the end," Busselot said. At the same time, she said, new developments cram tall buildings close together, trapping heat. "We see a lot of projects in the city where they build very tall buildings close to one another. And, with those high walls, all the warmth stays in the city," she added.For the most part, she thinks people don't really worry about potential catastrophes such as flooding until the water is at their doorstep. "I think people are worried when something happens," Busselot said. But then they forget, and the next day, they're busy with other things."But the region needs to use every tool at its disposal to prepare for disasters and work to prevent them, Busselot said. The marshes are "a very good response," she said. "But I think it's not enough."