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Sponge measures

Sponge measures aim to absorb, store, and slowly release water through landscapes.

Sponge measures mitigate floods and droughts and strengthen ecosystems against climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution.

Their implementation requires robust scientific evidence, which is challenging due to limited historical data, the need for diverse expertise, particularly in ecology, hydrology and soil sciences and long-term cooperation between stakeholders.

This is precisely where SpongeScapes aims to help, by bringing new evidence and tools for upscaling the implementation of sponge measures in landscape wide sponge strategies.

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Sponge strategies

14 Case Studies and 2 SpongeLabs to assess sponge measures and co-design sponge strategies at landscape scale

SpongeScapes aim is to upscale individual 'sponge measures' into overarching 'sponge strategies' at the landscape scale. To do this, we combine detailed monitoring of individual measures with landscape-scale modelling approaches to determine the maximum sponge capacity of catchments under current and future change scenarios. Throughout the project, we will involve stakeholders in the co-design and implementation of sponge measures in different geographical landscapes, taking into account co-benefits and trade-offs.

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Map of the 14 SpongeScapes case studies across Europe © 2024 OiEau
Map of the 14 SpongeScapes case studies across Europe © 2024 OiEau

Case Studies

SpongeScapes builds upon 14 case studies and revisits 140 recorded cases of sponge measures to monitor their performance under different types of hydrometeorological events (droughts, floods, etc). They are both rural and peri-urban case studies and include four different sponge measure categories (surface water, groundwater, soils and mixed) in different climatic zones and diverse soils (sandy, silty, clayey, peaty, calcareous).

Our Work Packages

WP1
Mainstreaming the Sponge Functions Knowledge Base

WP1 will create a comprehensive framework to collect, update, and share knowledge on sponge functions, enhancing the implementation of sponge measures across Europe. This will involve critical reviews, data integration, and the development of practical guidance, supporting stakeholders in adopting effective measures tailored to regional needs. 

WP Lead: OiEau

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WP2
Data Acquisition and Detailed Analysis of Case Study Sponge Measures

WP2 will conduct in-depth analyses of sponge measures across 14 case studies using both existing and newly collected data. This work will assess the effectiveness, strengths, weaknesses, and co-benefits of these measures, providing valuable insights into their long-term sustainability and informing future implementations.

WP Lead: UKCEH

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WP3
Upscaling from individual measures to sponge strategies for (sub)catchments through modelling

WP3 will model, validate, and upscale individual sponge measures to assess their maximum potential in managing floods and droughts at catchment scales. This work will improve our understanding of how sponge measures function under current and future scenarios, guiding the development of effective, large-scale strategies that support water management and climate resilience.

WP Lead: Deltares

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WP4
Co-assessing Sponge Strategies and Enabling Environments

WP4 will develop and apply a transdisciplinary approach to co-design and assess sponge strategies together with stakeholders at local, regional, and national levels. This work will facilitate the integration of technical insights, socio-ecological data, and stakeholder inputs to create sustainable, context-specific sponge measures that support climate adaptation.

WP Lead: LUH

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WP5
Dissemination, Communication and Exploitation

WP5 will coordinate communication and dissemination efforts to ensure effective sharing of project results and outcomes with stakeholders at all levels. This includes developing tailored content and engagement strategies, facilitating knowledge exchange, and providing training. WP5 will also prioritize outcomes with high exploitation potential and create an exploitation roadmap, including policy recommendations at EU, national, and local levels to support the mainstreaming of sponge measures.

WP Lead: OiEau

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WP6
Management and Coordination

WP6 will coordinate and manage the overall project to ensure that all activities meet the technical, administrative, financial, and legal requirements. WP6 will oversee communication within the consortium, manage data and innovation, and handle ethical and risk management procedures. This work package will also engage with external advisory boards to align with broader EU missions and facilitate collaboration with relevant projects.

WP Lead: Deltares

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FAQ

  • Urbanization, river engineering and intensive agriculture have damaged landscapes ' natural sponge functions. In less urbanized landscapes, rainwater is slowed down by a variety of "natural barriers": trees and vegetation, hedges, ditches, wetlands. The water then slowly circulates through the landscape, feeding a variety of streams and their floodplains. It can also better infiltrate the soil, replenishing the groundwater table. Sponge measures aim to improve an environment's ability to absorb, store, and slowly release water over a long period of time, often supporting dry season flows . They are inspired by how natural ecosystems function. They can include planting vegetation, restoring rivers and wetlands, or changing farming practices. Sponge measures help the water cycle find its natural, slower rhythm so that it can better support natural ecosystems, sustain economic activities and increase our resilience to extreme events such as floods or droughts.

  • In SpongeScapes our motto is "green where we can, grey where we must" because we believe that humans are also part of the landscape. This may result in hybrid approaches at landscape scale, where green and grey are jointly used to reach an overarching goal. In heavily modified landscape even "green" sponge measures may need additional artificial infrastructures to function (e.g. a weir that influences water levels in streams and influences the groundwater levels in the surrounding area). Also, a single "green" sponge measure (hedges, stream or wetland restoration), like a single "grey" sponge measure (dam or weir, large drain), may not be sufficient to stop a flood on its own, it has to be part of a holistic plan. This is why often a combination of green and grey measures is necessary, always bearing in mind that today's challenges require us to take better account of natural ecosystems and protect them as much as possible.

  • The “Sponge City” concept focusses on urban areas: the aim is to design cities like giant sponges, so that water stays in the city for as long as possible and drains away safely, making them more resilient to flooding and storing water in green spaces to make them more resilient to heat waves. In this perspective sponge measures are in line with the concepts underlying Sponge Cities. In 2014, the People's Republic of China launched the Sponge City concept to address urban surface water flooding and related urban water management issues. In these areas, recent extreme events have shown that even a landscape perspective may not fully protect the city from flooding: in extreme weather events, sponge measures can only be one part in the cities' overarching integrated flood protection strategies, where other measures such as early warning, zoning and building codes should also be included. In SpongeScapes, we aim to apply the “sponge” concept at a sufficiently large spatial scale, including rural and peri-urban areas, in a coherent landscape and/or watershed approach.

  • Sponge measures, natural water retention measures (NWRM), nature-based solutions (NBS) and green infrastructure are all related to sustainable environmental management, but originally focused on different aspects. Today, these concepts are sometimes used interchangeably to highlight the importance of healthy ecosystems for the sustainability of human societies. These different concepts reflect the need for specialists to better define this new field of activity and also to better define the expected impact of the measures implemented. For example, sponge measures and Natural Water Retention Measures (NWRM) are specific to water management and aim to mimic natural water cycle processes. Green infrastructure integrates natural elements into urban design, providing ecological services such as stormwater management and recreational spaces. Nature-based solutions are broader, addressing a range of environmental issues including climate change mitigation and biodiversity.

  • We refer to landscapes as "an area, as perceived by people, whose character is the result of the action and interaction of natural and/or human factors ”. The landscape scale is particularly important for the development of sponge strategies as it is a useful scale to investigate hydrological and ecological processes (the landscape water cycle) as well as to co-design strategies appropriate to a specific biophysical and governance context. Administrative boundaries often do not align with biophysical boundaries, for example with watersheds. The whole catchment scale is often too large for appropriate place and context-specific solution strategies. Or a municipality may be located on an area that partially covers one or more catchments.

  • Monitoring sponge measure helps in assessing their effectiveness in absorbing, storing and slowly releasing water. Ideally monitoring should begin years before the sponge measure is installed so as to be able to evaluate their success. Data gathered includes the rate of water absorption, storage capacity, impact on reducing surface runoff and flooding and overall effectiveness in different climatic and geographical conditions. Monitoring also helps to understand other co-benefits (and potential unintended consequences early so as to manage them), such as ecological benefits (supporting biodiversity and improving soil quality) and, ultimately, the functions of nature on which we all depend. This is essential to inform and improve future management and planning strategies.

  • A model is a formal representation of the behaviour of system processes, often in mathematical or statistical terms on a computer, that can be used to simulate what might happen in the real system. In SpongeScapes, we use modelling to simulate how Sponge measures and their combination work in different environmental and climate scenarios. The aim is to help predict the effectiveness of one or more sponge measures, such as absorption rates, storage capacity, etc. By simulating different conditions (different vegetation, climate, soil types, slope, ...) we aim to support decision making and optimise the design and implementation of sponge measures. In SpongeScapes, we use modelling to demonstrate our hypothesis that the integration of several sponge measures across a landscape creates a cumulative sponge effect that benefits flood protection - without preventing it altogether - and drought resilience, and provides many other benefits (biodiversity, etc.)

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