Collaboration in knowledge and research programme Lumbricus formalised

The collaboration between the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment and a consortium of water boards, knowledge institutions and businesses in the Lumbricus knowledge programme was formalised on 13 December. At the Nieuwspoort Members’ Club (The Hague) Minister Schultz announced a contribution from the Ministry of two million euro and symbolically handed over the collaboration agreement to the collaborating partners. The total funding for the programme is eight million euro over five years.

Major consortium

The Lumbricus knowledge and research programme is an initiative of the water boards Aa en Maas and Vechtstromen, Stichting Toegepast Onderzoek Waterbeheer (STOWA), knowledge institutes and SMEs. Twenty partners will be working intensively together to develop a climate-robust ground and water system in the high sand grounds of the East and South of the Netherlands, where climate change is increasingly causing typical problems such as drought (damage), peak discharges and soil compaction, with substantial (economic) damage as a result.

KWR in Lumbricus

Within the Lumbricus programme KWR is working on the development and application of, amongst other things, ‘de Waterwijzers Landbouw en Natuur’, which aim to analyse the effects of climate change and changes to water management on agricultural yields and conservation targets. In addition, together with farmers, we will also be developing technological solutions for a climate-robust an adaptive system of water management, such as practical Climate Adaptive Drainage (CAD) and sub-irrigation. These measures are aimed at the more efficient use of the available water sources and to thus contribute towards the self-sufficiency of the high sand grounds. Lumbricus is being managed by a core team, in which KWR represents the participating knowledge institutes and SME sector. Lumbricus is closely related to the new research program of the drinking water sector ‘Water in the Circular Economy’ (BTO Wice).