We don’t have to tell you that it has rained a lot in recent months. The last six months have been one of the wettest since measurements began. Bad for our mood, but excellent for groundwater levels, according to the latest water report from the Flemish Environment Agency.
“We have come a long way, but we have now really lost the low groundwater levels”
Katrien Smet
Flemish Environment Agency
The low groundwater levels caused by the drought in 2020, 2022 and 2023 have been completely eliminated after months of abundant precipitation. “At the beginning of May, 92 percent of the measuring locations showed high (38 percent) to very high (54) groundwater levels for the time of year,” the report concludes. A year ago, at the beginning of May, only half of the measuring locations had high to very high groundwater levels and two years ago even in less than five percent of the measuring locations.
“We have come a long way, but we have now really lost the low groundwater levels,” says spokeswoman Katrien Smet of the Flemish Environment Agency. This time the pendulum even seems to have swung a little too far. It has been since May 2001 that the groundwater level was this high at the beginning of May.
Don’t waste water
However, that does not mean that we can fill our swimming pools or water our gardens to our heart’s content this summer. “Wasting tap water is never a good idea,” Smet emphasizes. Flanders remains a region that is very sensitive to drought. “With the Blue Deal, many measures have been taken to protect Flanders from periods of drought, but we are a region with low water availability. We cannot ignore that. Today we are in a good position, but no one can see into the future. If it remains dry for months at a time and a lot of water evaporates, things could change quickly. Hence our call to always use tap water sparingly.”