dependent on water. Nevertheless, outside of the realm of water experts the
awareness of the risk of periods of present and future water scarcity is generally low
and only slowly increasing. This lack of drought awareness among citizens (voters)
and landowners (farmers) makes it difficult for water managers to impose a forceful
drought resilience strategy. While doing everything that is possible given this
shallow support base, it is therefore essential to simultaneously pay continuous
attention to awareness raising.
In this book six regions from five countries are studied: Germany, Belgium,
France, the UK, and the Netherlands. While all regions share the common characteristics of the Northwest European area, such as on average sufficient water
supply, a high level of economic development, and the context of European policy
schemes, they also illustrate a high degree of variation in their specific situations,
hydrology, water use, and institutional arrangements for water management. This
variety in the situation on the ground requires tailored action.
Different packages of measures are possible to increase resilience toward
drought. Three general strategies can be discerned. The first is a set of reactive
measures. To these belong the transport of water from other regions or from bigger
rivers to the dry areas. Something that is not only costly, but can also have negative
side effects, for instance, on water quality in vulnerable nature areas. Another one is
setting minimal flow requirements, for instance, to protect aquatic biotopes. While
reactive it also induces more preventive measures. Among the preventive measures
are all kinds of interventions to save and hold water available from wet periods, and
to increase the buffering capacity of the soil and the water system. Lastly there are
measures of the adaptive strategy: to accept the limitations of the natural system and
consequently adapt the water use to the drought risks that the system generates.
Of course, farmers could still decide to grow high value but vulnerable crops on
drought-prone lands, but when yield fails every ten years or so, they should view it
as an entrepreneurial risk that they cannot have avoided or compensated by public
authorities. While water demand management measures like these are still unusual,
it is wise to start preparing the support basis for them and develop ideas on their
future implementation.
All strategies require an appropriate land use and a robust water system. The
characteristics of the landscape and those of the water system should be in harmony. As with water uses the natural conditions should be put center stage. Thus,
not “water levels should be adjusted to follow chosen human land and water uses,”
but “land and water uses should follow water levels as they result from natural
circumstances.” For both the resilience of the water system and the quality of the
landscape and cityscape, so-called green–blue veins and grids are of crucial
importance. These are not only of esthetical value, which is important in its own
right, but also provide the function of improving buffering capacity for both too
much and too little water. The risk is that more attention for floods leads to measures that increase vulnerability for droughts, or the other way around. But since
both are occurring now with more frequency, this would be an inappropriate
response. As the Somerset case and several other examples in this book show, there
is certainly a need for an increased integration of flood and drought management.
vi
Foreword
awareness of the risk of periods of present and future water scarcity is generally low
and only slowly increasing. This lack of drought awareness among citizens (voters)
and landowners (farmers) makes it difficult for water managers to impose a forceful
drought resilience strategy. While doing everything that is possible given this
shallow support base, it is therefore essential to simultaneously pay continuous
attention to awareness raising.
In this book six regions from five countries are studied: Germany, Belgium,
France, the UK, and the Netherlands. While all regions share the common characteristics of the Northwest European area, such as on average sufficient water
supply, a high level of economic development, and the context of European policy
schemes, they also illustrate a high degree of variation in their specific situations,
hydrology, water use, and institutional arrangements for water management. This
variety in the situation on the ground requires tailored action.
Different packages of measures are possible to increase resilience toward
drought. Three general strategies can be discerned. The first is a set of reactive
measures. To these belong the transport of water from other regions or from bigger
rivers to the dry areas. Something that is not only costly, but can also have negative
side effects, for instance, on water quality in vulnerable nature areas. Another one is
setting minimal flow requirements, for instance, to protect aquatic biotopes. While
reactive it also induces more preventive measures. Among the preventive measures
are all kinds of interventions to save and hold water available from wet periods, and
to increase the buffering capacity of the soil and the water system. Lastly there are
measures of the adaptive strategy: to accept the limitations of the natural system and
consequently adapt the water use to the drought risks that the system generates.
Of course, farmers could still decide to grow high value but vulnerable crops on
drought-prone lands, but when yield fails every ten years or so, they should view it
as an entrepreneurial risk that they cannot have avoided or compensated by public
authorities. While water demand management measures like these are still unusual,
it is wise to start preparing the support basis for them and develop ideas on their
future implementation.
All strategies require an appropriate land use and a robust water system. The
characteristics of the landscape and those of the water system should be in harmony. As with water uses the natural conditions should be put center stage. Thus,
not “water levels should be adjusted to follow chosen human land and water uses,”
but “land and water uses should follow water levels as they result from natural
circumstances.” For both the resilience of the water system and the quality of the
landscape and cityscape, so-called green–blue veins and grids are of crucial
importance. These are not only of esthetical value, which is important in its own
right, but also provide the function of improving buffering capacity for both too
much and too little water. The risk is that more attention for floods leads to measures that increase vulnerability for droughts, or the other way around. But since
both are occurring now with more frequency, this would be an inappropriate
response. As the Somerset case and several other examples in this book show, there
is certainly a need for an increased integration of flood and drought management.
vi
Foreword