Today, the Port of Antwerp-Bruges has a some mayor water-related challenges to overcome. Our port has been operational for centuries and is at the heart of an industrial area. Therefore the water quality does not reach the European standards at this moment. In addition to that, we live in an country that is facing climate change risks. Belgium is officially designated as suffering from severe water shortage risks. Climate is even ranked 2nd in the Port of Antwerp-Bruges Enterprise Risk Report.
Port of Antwerp-Bruges' mission is to become a port that brings together the needs of economy, climate and people. This is why the Port of Antwerp-Bruges is working hard to reach three main goals in sustainable water management:
- First, we take proactive measures to maintain dockwater levels, secure navigation and enable ships to pass during dry periods. In order to do so, we developed an application for proactive docklevel management, we create additional water buffers and use extra pumps in case of drought.
- Second, we make sure there will be enough water to meet the needs of the industry and keep their production processes up and running. Therefore, we work closely with industrial players in the port area encouraging them to reduce, reuse and replace the precious resource called water. For example, where industries formerly used drinking water as a coolant, they will soon use recycled domestic waste water from the city of Antwerp. Moreover, together with the industry, we investigate the potential of recycling wastewater of large chemical concerns in the port area.
- Third, we take action to improve the water quality in the docks and to meet the European standards. For instance, we eliminate water pollution using an innovative plastic catcher. We take measures to stimulate aquatic life and restore biodiversity in the docks, by establishing protected zones where fish can reproduce undisturbed or by creating underwater structures where small animals such as crabs, fish and shrimps can thrive.
As a port authority we work together with a wide range of stakeholders and partners in order to make the port climate resilient and to secure port operations, today and in the future. Because water is vital for a port.
Port of Antwerp-Bruges’ efforts to reach climate resilience have been recognized by Water Europe as a Water Oriented Living Lab.
- Name of organisation
- Port of Antwerp-Bruges
- Type of organisation
- City or local authority
- Type of action proposed
- Upscaling, deployment and replication of solutions
- The action contributes to the following objective or enabler
- Protect and restore marine and freshwater ecosystems and biodiversityPrevent and eliminate pollution of our ocean, seas and watersMake the sustainable blue economy carbon-neutral and circularOcean and waters knowledge system
- List of Partners
As a port authority we cannot reach these goals alone. Within this living lab we work together with the port community, customers, water producers, the water pipeline network, sector federations, knowledge institutes & experts, nature and governmental organisations, etc.
- Start date of the action
- End date of the action
- Budget allocated for the action
- 2500000
- Basin coverage
- Baltic/North Sea
- Website link
- annelies.oeyen@portofantwerpbruges.com
- Country
- Belgium