Geul

The Belgian part of the Geul river basin is characterised by a relatively rapid response to precipitation compared to the Dutch part of the basin. This is caused by the fact that in this part the soil is thin and lies on poorly permeable rocks.

The catchment has a lot of grassland (46%), arable land (19%) and forest (20%), in addition to buildings (12%), roads (5%). The landscape thus comprises much rural area and rather little built-up area. Many towns and villages are located in the stream valley, where water regularly flows through a narrow village centre. These centres are therefore prone to flooding. To reduce the the risk of flooding, throughout the catchment area - and especially in the tributary streams - many rainwater buffers have been constructed. These reduce discharge peaks. The rainwater buffers are mainly intended to absorb locally heavy rain showers (for recurrence times of about 10 to 25 years).

Valkenburg is one of the locations where the stream flows through a town centre. The town lies in the floodplains of the Geul, about 10 km upstream of its mouth in the Meuse. Valkenburg is therefore one of known bottlenecks where flooding occurs when there is extreme precipitation throughout the Geul river basin. From the Geul river's perspective, the buildings in Valkenburg are obstacles, creating this bottleneck. This issue is less pronounced in the other villages along the Geul.

340

Square kilometers

300

Height difference

12%

Urban area

75.000

Buildings

Upcoming research:

In this river basin, JCAR ATRACE current focus is on (1) comparing different flood models and their capacity to quantify the impact of nature-based solutions on mitigating the consequences of extreme events (more info), (2) installing climate-robust water and debris monitoring systems (more info) and (3) effectiveness of flood adaptation measures at household-level (more info).

Publications in this basin

What-if simulation in Flanders with precipitation July 2021 (Dutch)

This report describes what the impact would be if a water bomb such as the one that occurred in July 2021, and caused a lot of damage due to floods in Wallonia, would fall across the whole of Flanders. Two precipitation events are calculated for which hydrological and hydrodynamic calculations were carried out with the model instruments of the Hydraulic Engineering Laboratory. Flood maps were then calculated along the navigable waterways and damage calculations were made (report only in Dutch).

Belgium

Download report

Watersystemanalysis Limburg 2021 (Dutch)

This analysis gives insights into the functioning of stream systems (Geul and Roer) during large amounts of precipitation in July 2021. Beside, the effects of different types of measures are described.

Netherlands

Download report

Rapid assessment study on Geul river basin

In this study, an international team of researchers assessed the hydrological response of the basin to heavy rainfall during the summer 2021 event, the associated floodings and their consequences in order to find measures that are potentially suitable for the prevention of future floods impacts.

Netherlands

Belgium

Germany

Download report

Hoogwater 2021 Facts and interpretation (Dutch)

In July 2021, large parts of Limburg were hit by heavy rainfall and flooding. Also parts of Belgium and Germany flooded, causing damage and loss of life. This was an extreme and unprecedented event with enormous impact. This exploration was carried out to take a first step to collect and analyze available information and knowledge about this event.

Netherlands

Belgium

Germany

Luxembourg

Download report

Resilient Waterland - Weerbaar Waterland (Dutch)

Advice of the expert panel on flood protection to the Flemish government. With 'Weerbaar Waterland', the expert panel formulates an adapted strategy for water security in Flanders, with ten coherent actions and a plan of action to implement it as soon as possible.

Belgium

Download report