Farmers as potential water managers in Holstebro Municipality, Denmark.

Description

The municipality of Holstebro, with 802 km2 and 57,500 inhabitants, is situated on the Jutland peninsula. The elevation of the city is 18 m and Denmark’s second longest watercourse – Storåen – runs through a narrow passage in the city of Holstebro,  which causes floodings under extreme precipitation events, being one of the Danish areas identified as being at risk of experiencing extreme climate events in the future. A substantial part of the municipality’s area is farmland. Directive 2007/60/EC requires Member States to assess if water courses and coastlines are at risk from flooding, to map the flood extent and assets and humans at risk in these areas, and to take adequate and coordinated measures to reduce flood risk.

Expectations are that farmers in Holstebro Municipality and the nearby municipalities Herning and Ikast-Brande, can help solve flooding problems in Holstebro City due to extreme precipitation events by allowing farmlands to be flooded permanently or for periods. Farmers as ‘water managers’ can thus be part of a solution by retaining water on their fields upstream of Holstebro city . Furthermore, the measure is a potential chance for some farmers to earn an income from some fields which might be exposed to floodings anyway.

Reference information