Decentralized stormwater management practices in the Brussels-Capital Region, an overview

Over two decades, decentralized stormwater management practices have emerged, breaking with the principles of the end-to-pipe solutions (stormwater basins, combined sewers,..). These new infrastructures - called BMPs, WSUDs, SUDs,.. (depending on the country) - limit the speed and the volume of the run-off at the source but they are also able to lower the peak rate downstream. Yet the Brussels-Capital-Region (BCR) is still massively investing in old-fashioned infrastructures to mitigate the floods. The lack of enthusiasm for the alternative measures can be explained by a poor understanding of these rather new techniques but also by a deficient understanding of the urban water-cycle. The (hydro)geological analysis of the BCR brings substantial information on the capacity of decentralized practices to tackle the different problems of stormwater quality and quantity in the BCR. This topic is a part of the knowledge developed on the urban water-cycle during the past research projects and the current PhD (Forgotten connections between urban water-fluxes) financed by the Brussels-Capital-Region (INNOVIris).