In the North, presentation of the network of canals, pumps and dykes set up from the 12th century:the wateringues. Example at Les Moères, a village located 250m below sea level. Interviews with a farmer, and Jean Schepman, president of the Institution Interdepartmental des Wateringues.
Reportage. A week after the floods in inland and maritime Flanders, farmers point to an insufficient darinage due, in their view, to poor maintenance of the canals and waterways. Commentary on factual images alternating with interviews with Vincent Vermitte (Farmer); Vincent Dezitter (Farmer); Olivier Matrat (Deputy Territorial Director VNF Nord Pas de Calais); Philippe Parent (Director of the Institution intercommunale des wateringues)
Beginning of the series on flood zones. The wateringues of maritime Flanders. The town of Les Moëres was flooded during the war and since the town located between France and Belgium never again had its feet in the water. Located on the vast territory of 85,000 hectares of wateringues, Les Moëres are 250 meters below sea level, it is a system of pumps and canals that allows to dry the land and evacuate water to the sea. Contributions from farmers and residents make it possible to pay the 30,000 euros of annual network maintenance and the 4 pumping stations.
Jean SCHEPMAN is angry and he chose the pumping station TEXIER to say, the president of the interdepartmental institution for the construction of flood control works in the Watringues region has just been refused by the State a sum of 800,000 euros intended to pay for work on the works. In the triangle Dunkirk, Calais, Saint Omer, the territory of Wateringues covers 100,000 hectares, 80 municipalities and Jean SCHEPMAN, crosses fingers so that there are no floods this winter. The institution will have to make a new loan to honor its debts.
In Maritime Flanders, a system of drainage to the sea, thanks to a network of ditches and canals, reduces the risk of flooding. Since the creation of an interdepartmental institution in 1977, the Union régionale des wateringues is no longer the only one to finance the maintenance of these facilities in Nord and Pas-de-Calais.
In Maritime Flanders, drainage works have been undertaken to make the land of the wateringues, located below sea level, cultivable. A surveyor explains the modern techniques used to avoid flooding. Pipes in the ground collect the water which then flows into watergang, ditches regularly maintained, leading to pumping stations.
Description of the water drainage system in the wateringues area, in the Nord Pas de Calais, which is below sea level. The system consisting of canals and pumping stations allows the maintenance of agricultural activities in flood-prone areas as explained by an operator.