Once-in-a-century floods, such as the ones that ravaged the country in July 2021, are more likely to occur every 30 years due to climate change, at least according to Jean-Paul Lickes, the director of the Water Management Authority. “It’s not a nice vision of the future”, Lickes acknowledged but added that seeing as practically all scenarios estimate that extreme weather phenomena will become more extreme and occur more often, while the population is still expected to increase, the country will have no other choice but to adapt.
For this reason, the Ministry of the Environment is planning to create a ‘climate adaption programme’, according to Lickes. He also announced that besides this programme, two other plans will be presented – after a public consultation – in their adapted forms over the following weeks: a general management plan and a flood risk management plan.
The flood maps have also been revised, Lickes stated, which will affect construction. Specifically, the Water Management Authority will issue authorisations in the future, which are meant to protect “both people and goods”.
Back in 2018, the Water Management Authority already published a guide on how construct in a “flood conscious” way. In the context of new specific development plans (PAP), the main goal will be to keep land sealing to a minimum, Lickes explained. He went on to say that ideally, the result would be that rainwater would not leave a property at all, for instance through the use of green roofs or grass pavers. If it is not possible to let all of the water seep away, construction would have to resort to retention basins in order to avoid water “just rushing straight into a river”. Otherwise, a third person, who previously never had any problems with flooding, risks suffering the consequences, according to Lickes.
Adapted construction is not for free and construction companies often face problems because they have to redesign their blueprints. Lickes admitted that “we are currently as they say, ‘between a rock and a hard place’”. However, Lickes pointed out that it would ultimately make no one happy if everything would be destroyed after ten years, and that the floods of July ’21 were the most expensive disaster ever faced by the country’s insurance companies.
In the case of locations where construction has already finished and new risks cannot be accounted for, Lickes suggests that renaturations of rivers could help. However, the director of the Water Management Authority acknowledged that renaturations are difficult because they require free plots of land. Lickes also pointed out that property rights are “very strong” in Luxembourg, revealing that the administration has several projects pending that cannot move on to the next stage because of “one or two property owners”.
Information is another part of adapting to increased flood risks. Lickes explained that his administration has published a variety of documents on their website www.waasser.lu and is always available to answer any and all questions residents might have.
The website www.inondations.lu has also been improved and Lickes announced a new app for 2022. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Home Affairs is working on a new direct alert system which is expected to be completed by the end of the year, Lickes stated.
