1010 Architecture Urbanism

The Senne valley is heavily fragmented by infrastructure: the ABC canal, the railway connection, and the ringroad around Brussels. The Senne river has been enclosed, causing the valley to disappear as a wetland ecosystem. Because of this progressive pavement of the Senne basin in combination with mutation in the rainfall regime due to climate change (i.e. increasing periods of intense rainfall), the current water system has reached its limits. In November 2010, the canal and the Senne in Lot, Ruisbroek and Anderlecht have been flooded in an attempt to keep Brussels dry. The Senne forms a complex hydraulic system with the ABC canal, as its flows are artificially maintained. A solution requires a strategy on the scale of the basin: infiltration on the hilltops, slowing down the water on the slopes, providing sufficient storage capacity in the valley. Concerning that storage or buffering capacity, it was calculated that some 3 million m3 are needed upstream relative to Brussels, of which 2 million m3 can be collected in the Walloon region. The realisation of the remaining capacity opens up an enormous potential for ecological and recreational synergies, but also for new forms of land use and management.