NWE - INTERREG IV B
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Climate Changing? Meuse Adapting!

The Meuse is a transnational, navigable river, one of the largest in NWE, with a catchment basin incorporating 5 Member States, situated in a densely populated area of NWE. Its discharge fluctuates considerably with seasons: it reached 3100 m3/s in winter 1993 at the Dutch/Walloon border and is only 10-40 m3/s in summers. Classed as a rain-fed river, it has no glacier and little groundwater storage capacity to buffer precipitations. A direct link exists between climate evolutions and changes in high & low-flows, putting at risk the assets of the basin, including major infrastructures, industries, priceless historical and ecological heritage. The Meuse river basin, with a drainage area of 34 548 km² and including nearly 9 million inhabitants, is a major geographic link between Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. The 5 European countries are working together in the International Meuse Commission (IMC), created in 2002 to coordinate the application of the Water Framework Directive (2000/60/CE).