BONat (Bassin d'orage naturels – Natural stormwater basins)

This research carried out between 2008 and 2009 was developed in collaboration with Brussels Environment (IBGE-BIM). The project was part of a new flood management planning (called "Plan PLUIE / REGENPlan or RAIN Plan")

The first step included the collection of environmental data (topographic, piezometric, geologic...) and the description at a regional scale of the potential offered by the existing geological formations for rainwater infiltration in relation with the use of compensatory techniques. The project led to the creation of a series of maps summarizing these environmental parameters and the infiltration potential provided by the local geology. As it rains, the porous and permeable sand layers, which exist in the underground of many parts of the city, play the role of a sponge. The major conclusion of the study is that thanks to the presence of thick layers of sand, many favorable zones exist in the Brussels Region where infiltration techniques would be highly beneficial and would contribute to a reduction of the occurrence of inundations in the valleys. If implemented, such compensatory techniques would form a useful tool for flooding mitigation.

The second step implied an accurate description of local catchment basins and/or administrative areas. The Molenbeek River catchment, Neder-Over-Hembeek, Forest/Voorst, ... have been studied and solutions have been discussed.

A summary of this research has been published in a book specialized in sustainable architectural principles. We invite you to read this text following this link.

If you are interested in all study details and reports please contact us.

The project BONat ended in February 2010, the floods within Brussels are still studied with the new project Urban water-cycle, which derives in part from the lessons learned during BONat. The aim of this study is to understand the hydro(geo)logical cycle in densely urbanized area where floods play an important part.

You have the possibility to declare floods to help us understand this phenomenon in the Brussels context. Formulaire 1