Urban Brook Enschede
The municipality of Enschede is working on a solution to the existing problems pertaining to pluvial flooding and high groundwater levels. It aims to tackle the consequences of the expected climate change in a sustainable manner. At the same time, the solution must contribute to the spatial quality and appeal of the city of Enschede. To achieve this, the authorities will construct a water corridor across the existing city, approx. 5 km in length: the Stadsbeek [Urban Brook]. The brook will be constructed in phases; its incorporation is scheduled to be completed by 2050. The first phase will be rolled out in 2016.
Results
Enschede Water Vision
The Enschede Verbindt [Enschede Connects] water vision summarises the ambitions of the City of Enschede and its ambitions in the fields of water management and sewerage in the diagram below:
Relation between water vision and ambitions of the City of Enschede
A key goal is finding more sustainable short-term and long-term solutions for reducing pluvial flooding, combating high groundwater levels, and improving water quality in Enschede. As a result of climatological changes, the future will bring us increasingly more frequent hotter summers and thus more extreme downpours. The built-up environment will warm up and streets will be left inundated more often after peak rainfall. We need to anticipate this. In addition, we intend to realise our ambitions in the fields of sustainability, climate-proofing, increased biodiversity, traffic safety, spatial quality, and habitability.
The specific location of Enschede, its textile industry past, and the disappearance of most of the brooks that used to flow through Enschede have augmented the groundwater issues and pluvial flooding over the years.
Origin of Enschede and location on the weir embankment
Brook system in 1900 and 2010
Joining forces to develop a climate-proof water and spatial structure
By opting for an Urban Brook, we are implementing a long-term perspective that ties in with the city’s ambitions: spatial solutions that befit the natural system and the built-up environment, in which we are investing together with partners and residents. With its Urban Brook, Enschede is preparing for climate change and developing an iconic urban structure over a period of 20 to 40 years. This makes the Urban Brook an overall concept for tackling (water-related) bottlenecks and realising the ambitions of Enschede.
Realisation of the Urban Brook
Climate-Active City Concept
The Urban Brook is a project in which the Climate-Active City (KAS) concept is clearly manifest. Water tasking is linked to other societal taskings. The entire project is implemented in collaboration with a range of partners: municipal authorities, residents, housing corporations, the district water board, the business community, schools, and knowledge institutes. Water thus becomes a catalyst to boosting habitability in the various neighbourhoods.
The method adopted for the realisation of the Urban Brook is not a blueprint, but its concept is readily reproducible. It shows that KAS is a well-functioning total concept, offering inspiration in the form of lessons learned and best practices for other KAS projects and similar taskings at other locations in the Netherlands, Europe, and beyond. The Urban Brook thus explicitly offers an exportable approach.
The phased construction of the Urban Brook, with a specific functionality for each component, enables us to adapt to changing circumstances and new insights. This prevents us from opting now for a certain structure and dimensioning that turn out to be yet insufficiently functional in the long run.
Climate adaptation
The Urban Brook improves the city’s ability to cope with pluvial flooding and heat stress:
• The Urban Brook offers room for peak water storage, additional discharge capacity, and opportunities for disconnecting rainwater from the sewage system. In short, the Urban Brook is an important sustainable pillar for Enschede’s aggregate water tasking. The Urban Brook is essential to realise the disconnection tasking.
• The brook’s green-blue structure provides cooling by the evaporation of greenery, tree shading, and supply of cool water.
Climate mitigation
Construction of the Urban Brook will ensure gravity discharge of groundwater to the brook. This will obviate the need for the groundwater pumps that currently operate 24 hours a day, thus saving energy.
Because the houses will no longer be affected by high groundwater levels, they will be less damp. Heating dry houses requires less fuel, thus reducing CO2 emissions. Furthermore, less indoor damp is more conducive to public health.
The Urban Brook offers opportunities for improving the sustainability of the urban development along its banks, by exploring the construction of green rooftops, solar panels, or house insulation together with residents and housing corporations.
Scheduling
In 2016, streets suffering from serious waterlogging were provided with a Drainage Infiltration System (DIT) to control groundwater levels and enable the transportation/infiltration of redirected rainwater. In order to minimise the cost, the construction of a DIT system in other streets will be combined with other work, such as sewer system replacements.
The construction of the Urban Brook in Pathmos and Stadsveld has been subdivided into three stages. Stage 1 will be constructed in 2017, stage 2 in 2018, and stage 3 in 2019.
During the construction of the Urban Brook we will keep our eyes open for opportunities in the near vicinity: wherever we can disconnect roof water from the sewer system, retain water, or green the environment we will do so! Of course, we will not undertake this on our own; we will try and realise our ambitions together with project partners and local residents.
Contact person
Sylvia Schot-Vos
Gemeente Enschede
+31(0)6-12187724
S.Schot-Vos@enschede.nl