euwareness belgium Case Study 1: Vesdre River Basin David Aubin and Frédéric Varone Case Study 1: Vesdre River Basin David Aubin Frédéric Varone April 2002 Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL) Unité de Sciences politiques et Relations internationales (SPRI) Association universitaire de Recherche sur l'Action publique (AURAP) Place Montesquieu, 1 boîte 7 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve Belgium Tel: + 32.10.47.2018 Fax: + 32.10.47.4603 Website: www.aurap.ucl.ac.be Email: [email protected]; [email protected]; EUWARENESS is a research project on European Water Regimes and the Notion of a Sustainable Status. Research institutes from six European countries (Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland) have been cooperating in this two year project (2000-2002). More information is available on www.euwareness.nl. The project is supported by the European Commission under the 5th Framework Programme, and co-ordinated by the University of Twente in the Netherlands. EUWARENESS Case Study Report 1: Vesdre river basin BELGIUM Table of contents: I. General description of the Vesdre river basin II. Development of uses (1980-2001) III. Identifying attempts towards integration: intra-cases IV. Discussion on the regime development at a local scale V. Test of the hypotheses of the screening D. AUBIN - F. VARONE - EUWARENESS 2 10/03/03 - 13:03 EUWARENESS Case Study Report 1: Vesdre river basin BELGIUM Introduction Our selection of the case study is established with a series of parameters: - Number and types of uses (rivalries) - Documented case (wide set of available data) - Scale compatible with the requirements of the EUWARENESS project - Emerging river contract (non-binding form of local concertation) - An independant basin (no water input from upstream, opposed to an intermediary basin, e. g. the Haute Meuse basin) - Laboratory for protection perimeters around wells Localised in the northeast part of Wallonia, the Vesdre basin is a combination of wide natural areas and densely populated industrial areas. It faces strong pollution problems in the river Vesdre and some of its tributaries. Following the more legal and functional regime approach done in the country screening, we now take a user approach in our case study. Using a bottom-up approach, we start from a local identification of the different water uses. We try to see how these uses are regulated, according to the regional legislation or on a more informal basis. We select four particular rivalrous uses that led to conflicts now overcome. We then replace the intra-cases in the broader analysis of the regime and its institutional arrangement at local scale. I. General description of the water basin We stress the particularities of the Vesdre river basin. We present elements of geography and hydrology, including the pollution problem. 1.1 Geographical aspects 1.1.1 Human geography The Vesdre river basin is located in the northeast part of the Walloon Region, in the Province of Liège. The Province of Liège, a former principauté, is the area surrounding the city of Liège. Liège is about 90 kilometres east from Brussels. The Province of Liège is bordering the Flemish Province of Limbourg, the Dutch region of Maastricht and the German region of Aachen in the North. The East part is bordering Germany, and the South part the Walloon provinces of Namur and Luxembourg. Map 1: Identification of the Vesdre Basin in Wallonia D. AUBIN - F. VARONE - EUWARENESS 3 10/03/03 - 13:03 EUWARENESS Case Study Report 1: Vesdre river basin BELGIUM Source: DGRNE, Etat de l’environnement wallon 2000 The river basin is a well-defined entity in Wallonia. The Region is divided in 14 river basins, which are in fact tributary river basins of either the Escaut or the Meuse. The demarcation of the river basins was quite simple to determine. They follow the watersheds (lignes de crête). The territory of each river basin is defined in a legal document1. The Vesdre river basin covers an area of 710 km² and is made up of two main rivers, the Vesdre (71 km long) and the Hoëgne (29 km long), a tributary. The basin covers parts of the territory of two arrondissements (Verviers and Liège) and 27 municipalities (see map 1). Along the Vesdre, from the source to the confluent, are set the municipalities of Raeren, Eupen, Baelen, Limbourg, Dison, Verviers, Pepinster, Olne, Trooz, Chaudfontaine and Liège. The three main cities of the basin are Eupen, Verviers and Liège, all located along the Vesdre river. The last is only partly comprised. Along the Hoëgne and Wayai, we find the municipalities of Spa, Jalhay and Theux. Other municipalities have parts of their territory included in the basin: Waimes, Malmédy, Stavelot, Lontzen, Welkenraedt, Thimister- Clermont, Herve, Soumagne, Fléron, Beyne-Heusay and Sprimont. The basin is densely populated (see table 1) but quite unequally. Population and activities are concentrated along the Vesdre between Eupen and Liège. The sole exception is Spa. However the average density of the basin (428.99 inhab./km²) is much higher than the average density of Wallonia (196 inhab./km²) and Belgium (333 inhab./km²). Thus the density is high in spite of wide natural areas in the southeast. Actually, the remaining part of the territory is covered by forests and grazing areas. 1 AGW 03.02.2001, not yet published D. AUBIN - F. VARONE - EUWARENESS 4 10/03/03 - 13:03 EUWARENESS Case Study Report 1: Vesdre river basin BELGIUM Liège is the biggest town included in the basin with 189'510 inhabitants. However only a tiny part is inside (4.2% of the territory). Even if this area has the highest density (2’480.42 inhab./km²), the town which will focus our attention the most is Verviers. Verviers is set entirely along the river Vesdre and accounts 53'620 inhabitants (1/4 of the population of the basin). The other municipalities of great concern in our study are: Chaudfontaine, Dison, Eupen, Pepinster, Spa and Theux. The limits of the communes don’t fit with the limits of the sub-basins. Some municipalities are involved in two or more sub-basins, e.g. Chaudfontaine. The Vesdre basin comprises a wide set of activities. Forest occupies 43.9% of the surface, mainly in the eastern and southern-eastern parts, and agriculture 32.1%, mainly in the north and west. The remaining part of the territory (24%) is occupied with housing and industry. Industrial zonings are mainly concentrated around Eupen and Verviers. The basin is crossed by two motorways, one north going from Brussels to Köhln (E 40), the other one the north- south axis from Verviers to Fließem (E 42). The production sector represents 25.6% of the regional activities (hand-made in traditional sectors and medium-sized enterprises in steel, paper, chemical products, food & textile). Agriculture is specialised in market gardening (fruits) and breeding (milk production). Meadows represent 89.3% of the agricultural surface area. Others activities are grouped around the notion of leisure: tourism, recreational areas, bathing, water cures (Chaudfontaine & Spa), fishing, camping sites, natural park of the Hautes Fagnes2, etc. Extraction activities, geothermal pumping, military areas, air base can also be considered. Table 1 : Population in the Vesdre basin Municipality Superficies %age located Superficies Population Population Density (km²) inside the inside the (total) in inside the (inhab./km²) basin basin (km²) 1996 basin inside the basin Aywaille 79,7 0,90 0,7 9.755 0 0,00 Baelen 85,7 100,00 85,7 3.669 3.669 42,81 Beyne-Heusay 7,2 27,80 2,0 11.474 1.890 944,24 Chaudfontaine 25,7 71,00 18,2 20.657 15.580 853,84 Dison 14,1 100,00 14,1 13.954 13.954 989,65 Eupen 96,2 92,40 88,9 17.304 17.304 194,67 Fléron 13,7 61,90 8,5 15.781 8.034 947,37 Herve 56,7 44,80 25,4 16.204 10.916 429,74 Jalhay 106,9 99,50 106,4 7.098 7.000 65,81 Liège 68,7 4,202,9 189.510 7.157 2.480,42 2 The natural reserve of the Hautes-Fagnes-Eifel is classified in IUCN Category IV (managed nature reserve) and has had Council of Europe certification since 1966. It is confirmed both by the application decree of 31.05.78 and the regional decree of 16.07.85 about natural parks (M.B. 12.12.85). It totalises 67'850 ha and a half of it is inside the basin. Some municipalities of the basin are involved : Baelen, Eupen, Jalhay, Malmédy, Raeren, Stavelot and Waimes. The natural park is managed with a management plan by a management commission that is led by the Province of Liège. The Vesdre basin possesses two certified natural reserves (private reserves) and 6 domanial natural reserves (public) managed by the Region (DGRNE-DNF). Four other natural parks are located in Wallonia: Vallées de la Burdinale et de la Méhaigne, Vallée de l’Attert, Plaines de l’Escaut and Pays des Collines). The total protected area is around of 142’812 ha (8.5% of the regional territory), following the decree of 1985 (Source: Région wallonne, L’Etat de l’Environnement wallon, 2000, pp. 234-240). D. AUBIN - F. VARONE - EUWARENESS 5 10/03/03 - 13:03 EUWARENESS Case Study Report 1: Vesdre river basin BELGIUM Limbourg 24,6 100,00 24,6 5.358 5.358 217,80 Lontzen 29,0 8,00 2,3 4.828 225 96,98 Malmédy 100,6 10,40 10,5 10.841 0 0,00 Olne 15,9 100,00 15,9 3.634 3.634 228,55 Pepinster 25,0 100,00 25,0 9.129 9.129 365,16 Raeren 72,5 35,80 26,0 9.531 386 14,87 Soumagne 27,2 46,60 12,7 14.335 8.865 699,40 Spa 39,7 96,80 38,4 10.384 10.000 260,22 Sprimont 74,7 29,50 22,0 12.115 2.443 110,86 Stavelot 85,0 2,70 2,3 6.526 0 0,00 Stoumont 108,8 0,03 0,0 2.859 0 0,00 Theux 83,3 92,40 77,0 10.710 10.710 139,15 Thimister- 28,7 25,60 7,3 4.840 926 126,03 Clermont Trooz 24,4 100,00 24,4 7.643 7.643 313,24 Verviers 32,8 100,00 32,8 53.620 53.620 1.634,76 Waimes 97,3 16,40 16,0 6.338 0 0,00 Welkenraedt 24,5 75,00 18,4 8.705 7.850 427,21 For the whole 1.448,6 48,90 708,3 486.802 206.293 428,99 basin D.