to the ministry, which, if approved, will finance the research project and most of the costs. This is a big relief, especially for small councils. Dieschbourg stated: “We increased this budget as we want to do more about this, because weather extremes and floods happen more often.” The ministry is pushing for the modernisation of waste water treatment plants; the budget for the water fund increased from €60m to €84m. Currently, the only treatment plant (for over 10,000 inhabitants) that still needs to be updated is the one in Bleesbréck, near Diekirch. Another problem is drinking water pipes leaking; in some areas, they leak up to 30%. Good management of water infrastructure and of water reservoirs is crucial to ensuring that people can continue enjoying safe drinking water. Water towers and reservoirs are mushrooming in Luxembourg. The environment minister added: “Over the past years, water towers have become fashionable. The old ones must be replaced and adapted to current needs.” Dieschbourg is also worried about biodiversity and the ecosystems surrounding water streams and rivers. Renaturation projects, she argues, will also have some impact on floods. “For the past centuries, and especially the last century, we have taken space away from water, we embedded it in small streams in our villages, which had construction on both sides, and we straightened the course of rivers in many places. That is why today we work a lot on renaturation, on measures where water gets much more space before entering towns so that during a flood, the water can spread there.” COOPERATION Seeing the challenges people and local authorities face, it is essential that the environment ministry and local councils are on the same wavelength. Both mayors said they hardly knew anything about water management before coming into office and that it was a steep learning curve. Gleis said: “When you become mayor, in a town like Erpeldange-sur-Sûre, you get confronted with all aspects of water, whether it’s drinking water, waste water or floods. It is one of the most important responsibilities, but no one sees where the money goes. It’s all underground, under streets, in canals. It’s incredibly expensive and no one sees it.”
The Esch-sur-Sûre reservoir, seen last summer
The reservoir provides 50% of Luxembourg’s drinking water
February 2018