climate and water Leuven

We leave the world café and go to the right, to the end of the square. Behind the bushes, we can go left to the water: the Dijle, a river 86 km long that flows into the Rupel and further into the Schelde. Even in dry weather, about 4 cubic meters flow through the Dijle in Leuven every second, which is about 4000 liters; during rain, that rises to 10 thousand liters, or 1000 buckets per second, sixty thousand buckets per minute! If the riverbed is not that wide, as here, the river must be quite deep to allow all that water to flow through… or flow very quickly. Flowing water can therefore be very powerful and cause destruction: uprooting trees, breaking dikes, sweeping away cars, as happened last July in Pepinster and Verviers. But water is also a blessing! Without water, life is simply impossible: no plants, no animals, and no people.

Water is very important. It is therefore not surprising that sometimes there is fighting over (drinking) water.

But we return to the other side of the square and take Waaistraat, then turn right onto Minderbroedersstraat.

Where we cross the Dijle, we see to the right that the river splits. We see this in different places in Leuven, and it immediately provides more options to drain all that water.

Right at the end of Minderbroedersstraat, we see an octagonal building on the right: the anatomical theater. Here, students sat in the stands against the walls to watch the professor as he dissected corpses to show the structure of the body and the position of the organs… (QR code for podcast 2). But we cross the street and enter the herb garden through the gate, now just 200 years old, originally intended to get to know medicinal plants and herbs.

Water is therefore very important. It is not surprising that sometimes there is fighting over (drinking) water.

But we return to the other side of the square and take Waaistraat, then turn right onto Minderbroedersstraat.

Where we cross the Dijle, we see to the right that the river splits. We see this in different places in Leuven, and it provides more options to drain all that water.

Right at the end of Minderbroedersstraat, we see an octagonal building on the right: the anatomical theater. Here, students sat in the stands against the walls to watch the professor as he dissected corpses to show the structure of the body and the position of the organs… But we cross the street and enter the herb garden through the gate, now just 200 years old, originally intended to get to know medicinal plants and herbs.

We follow the signs to the Sunken Garden, walk past the small greenhouse, the Alpine house. Do you see the succulents? Where it is very dry in the world, with a lot of sandy soil (where the water - as far as it exists - runs right through) or very high (above the "tree line"), you find little or only small woody plants. Now walk a bit further to the sunken garden, which invites you to rest, but we have no time! We walk to the right, through the little gate and enter the orchard. There we turn immediately to the right, almost doing a U-turn, and step into the fern house. Do you feel the humid warm air?

We hope that you have experienced a bit what the climate, the weather, and the soil mean for plant growth… and therefore also for the nourishment of humans and animals!

Feel free to return to the Herb Garden and discover all those other peculiarities (like the bust of that gentleman with a pacifier as a medal, or the tree of bones that was uprooted by storm Eunice in February 2022), but we must move on. We exit the herb garden along the way we came in and take the Kapucienenvoer to the left. The name of this street also refers to water: the Voer, a tributary of the Dijle, which runs under the street here, and of course also refers to the Capuchin friars (named after their brown hood: anyone wearing such a hood or cappa is a cappuccino).

To our right, now a huge construction site, stood the nursing school, connected to the university hospital Sint-Rafaël. We arrive at Brusselsestraat and take it to the right to Handbooghof, right next to the "Spar." But opposite stood the Sint-Pieter hospital, recently demolished, which was never fully used, because meanwhile, the construction of Gasthuisberg had started... But for years Sint-Pieter stood empty... even though it could have provided shelter to many refugees, lost people... and climate migrants.

Climate migrants? That’s what we call people who are fleeing, not from war or armed violence, but because of the climate. Deforestation often leads to sandification or the formation of desert soil: everything becomes dry (because the tree roots no longer hold the soil in place and keep it fertile), and thus hardly anything grows anymore. Or fleeing from floods, where fields are submerged, harvests are lost... but also houses are swept away.

It is estimated that there are currently about 33 million people fleeing in their own country: 8.5 million fleeing from violence, but nearly 25 million for the climate. And if this continues, it is expected that there will be 143 million by 2050! High time to do something!

In Handbooghof, we walk along the old city wall (12th century!). At the end, we turn right and turn with it, but we do not take the Lei, but the Dirk Boutslaan, so that the Dijle flows to our right. But look, is there someone lying stiff in the sun down on the Dijle terraces? We descend to the water, and yes, it is wonderful to sunbathe on the Dijle terraces… if it hasn't rained too much, because those terraces can sometimes flood, and then you see Fiere Margriet floating.

Margrietje is a folk saint who is said to have been murdered and thrown into the Dijle, but miraculously she drifted upstream, against the current, to Leuven.

Across the street, you see the SLAC, art and music academy of the city of Leuven. Training in the arts then. But did you know that a candidate refugee has no right to work for 4 months? He or she has the right to shelter and food, but for a little extra they have to manage "under the table," with all the consequences of a work accident! With a proper education, even "on the job," they may be able to find a better job here, and that is quite possible in our country during the "integration courses." And even if a recognition as a refugee is denied, that education can come in handy back home… and even help ensure that there is less migration. Those rejected refugees can, upon their return home, use their education to help improve life there, and thus lessen the reasons for fleeing! Think of training in construction (e.g., for building sturdy dams), in organic farming (irrigation or watering fields, composting...), in hydrology (water management)...

We go back to where Handbooghof came out, and on the other side of the street the Dijle splits once again. We follow Brouwerstraat to the left for a bit and then walk along the Dijle via Halvestraat, "half"-street because it could only be built on one side, although the new apartments along the water prove otherwise. At the end, where we see another bridge over the water to the right (and we read the year it was built, but also which water we are dealing with here), we go left into Pereboomstraat. At Bruulpark (on the left) we take the little bridge: the Hambrugpad (no, not named after the German city, but after the bridge over the Ham, as the Penitentienenstraat was called). In Bruulpark, we all have an appointment on May 20 and 21, 2022, for the World Festival: food and drink stalls, performances, information… from all over the world!

We turn left onto Hambrugpad, again over the water, and then to the right. At the bend, we bump into the gate of the Al Fath mosque. On Penitentienenstraat, we go briefly to the right and then take the path to the left (so that the water flows to our left).

At the end, we see Dijle terraces again, with information boards about the flood in 1906. Across the river, an arrow indicates how high the water stood then. That was over 100 years ago... but it happened again last year in Verviers and Pepinster! And imagine that this happens every year during the rainy season. Then you would move, flee from climate change… and become a climate migrant!

We continue along the path (so we do not cross the water), but go to the construction site for a new neighborhood in Mechelsestraat: a bit to the left but at Horenblazer, house number 170 (and next) we take the path to the right. We follow it to Valkenplein. But first, we cross the water again: this time the Voer and look to the right: the mouth of the Voer into the Dijle. We come into Glasblazerijstraat and head to the Sluisparkje on the right. Look down: the Fish Ladder! Ladder? For fish?

The sign explains it to us: a weir ensures that the water is high enough to provide the canal with water (because water always flows "downhill," and the water in the canal is not always lower than the Dijle!). That height difference can be one and a half meters, and that’s quite a bit for fish... Therefore a fish ladder: 23 small steps of 7 centimeters that the fish can take or "bridge" (without a bridge).

the canal is not always lower than the Dijle!). That height difference can be one and a half meters, and that’s quite a bit for fish... Therefore a fish ladder: 23 small steps of 7 centimeters that the fish can take or "bridge" (without a bridge).

We walk to the water play area on the right. The channels would represent the course of the Dijle and the Voer in the city, and the yellow barriers that hold back the water then indicate the locks. We take the central path through the park to the left. A lot of water here: the fish ladder, the playground, and terraces leading to the water. All drinkable (because all water can be drunk, so it is drinkable) but that does not mean it is healthy drinking water!

the canal is not always lower than the Dijle!). That height difference can be one and a half meters, and that’s quite a bit for fish... Therefore a fish ladder: 23 small steps of 7 centimeters that the fish can take or "bridge" (without a bridge).

We walk to the water play area on the right. The channels would represent the course of the Dijle and the Voer in the city, and the yellow barriers that hold back the water then indicate the locks. We take the central path through the park to the left. A lot of water here: the fish ladder, the playground, and terraces leading to the water. All drinkable (because all water can be drunk, so it is drinkable) but that does not mean it is healthy drinking water!

the canal is not always lower than the Dijle!). That height difference can be one and a half meters, and that’s quite a bit for fish... Therefore a fish ladder: 23 small steps of 7 centimeters that the fish can take or "bridge" (without a bridge).

We walk to the water play area on the right. The channels would represent the course of the Dijle and the Voer in the city, and the yellow barriers that hold back the water then indicate the locks. We take the central path through the park to the left. A lot of water here: the fish ladder, the playground, and terraces leading to the water. All drinkable (because all water can be drunk, so it is drinkable) but that does not mean it is healthy drinking water!

People sometimes refer to the earth as the “blue planet” because you see a lot of water from space (3/4 of the earth's surface is water!). But only 3% of all that water is good for drinking, and of that, three-quarters goes to agriculture and livestock. Meanwhile, 3 out of 10 people have no access to drinking water…

At the end: watch out! We cross the street ("Havenkant") and come to a small square at OPEK (public depot for the arts, formerly a customs transshipment point) and the end of the basin, where the boats are moored.

People sometimes refer to the earth as the “blue planet” because you see a lot of water from space (3/4 of the earth's surface is water!). But only 3% of all that water is good for drinking, and of that, three-quarters goes to agriculture and livestock. Meanwhile, 3 out of 10 people have no access to drinking water…

At the end: watch out! We cross the street ("Havenkant") and come to a small square at OPEK (public depot for the arts, formerly a customs transshipment point) and the end of the basin, where the boats are moored.

People sometimes refer to the earth as the “blue planet” because you see a lot of water from space (3/4 of the earth's surface is water!). But only 3% of all that water is good for drinking, and of that, three-quarters goes to agriculture and livestock. Meanwhile, 3 out of 10 people have no access to drinking water…

At the end: watch out! We cross the street ("Havenkant") and come to a small square at OPEK (public depot for the arts, formerly a customs transshipment point) and the end of the basin, where the boats are moored.

Look at the beginning (or the end) of the basin: a sculpture of “the canal diggers.” Imagine: more than 250 years ago, before bulldozers drove, 500 workers dug a canal from Leuven to Mechelen for 2 years with spades and shovels. Do you recognize the silhouette of Leuven (with the town hall) and Mechelen (with the Sint-Rombouts tower) on the side? And do you also see the group of applauding dignitaries on the back? The figure on the far right looks more like a beggar to me. Or could it be a climate migrant?

The city wants to create an outdoor swimming pool here in the basin. But preferably not with Dijle water. Because in the past, a lot of wastewater (from laundry, cooking, bathing...) was simply dumped into the Dijle. And with many old houses along the Dijle, this is still the case! Fortunately, more and more wastewater is now separated from the “rainwater,” but water pollution is, alongside climate, another problem that threatens the earth and life. Each year, 11 million tons of plastic waste end up in the sea. So use as little plastic as possible, don’t throw your waste away, but put it in the bins and bags!

We walk alongside the basin to café de lantaarn. There we cross the street again and take Vaartstraat. A bit further, after house number 159, we see again “Dijle terraces” on our right. We cross through again: again over the Dijle, past large wheels that open or close the lock and hold back or let the water flow. We then also enter Sluisstraat…

Briefly to the left and then right: the Klein Begijnhof. We turn left along the small houses, with a number but also with a name!

At the end of the Klein Begijnhof: left against the wall is a large peculiarity: old urinals or little pissing spots. There is always water flowing in, but due to the rather special environment, mosses grow here that you can hardly find anywhere else (biologists tell us).

Also remarkable is the church tower directly in front of us: one of the 7 wonders of Leuven: a tower in which no nails were used: no wooden framework, no slates, but a huge Meccano, entirely made of stone!

We walk past the church door and enter the little park behind it. We follow the path to the right alongside the “Thierry wing” built with fragments of facades of houses burned in the first world war, we see a couple of remarkable trees, and the museum of the scouts and guides.

We exit the little park through the gate, and there we again see a lock, to control the water level. And that is good, because when that flood raged in Pepinster and Verviers, the water in Leuven was also very high. Fortunately, in the hamlet of Egenhoven (along the street called “Langestaart”) there is a retention basin where excess water can be held. And even higher up, in Neerijse, lies the large nature reserve “de Doode Bemde,” where the Dijle flows gently, can easily overflow its banks, and allow water to seep into the surrounding meadows. But you can best imagine how important locks are to sometimes hold back water!

We arrive in Karel van Lotharingenstraat and go right to the Vismarkt. We cross it diagonally, take the traffic-free Mechelsestraat, and immediately right onto Wandelingenstraat. We cross Dirk Boutslaan at the bus stop and follow the Dijle that flows to our right.

At the square, just before Brusselsestraat, stands a statue of a strange guy: Paep Thoon. Walk around him and see what he does with his hand (and thumb) on his back… the rascal.

Briefly left, then right: Wieringstraat, veering to the right and then left following Drinkwaterstraat… through which we return “to the banks of the Dijle, at Helleputteplein,” time for a snack and a drink.

We now know what climate migrants are, how important but also dangerous water can be, that not everyone has access to drinking water, that water pollution is a problem… But where are the solutions? Will you walk a bit longer with me? Just an hour, and you will immediately discover one of Leuven's most beautiful green gems…

We take Waaistra