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Flood risk in agricultural landscapes is often the result of decades of land use change. In the Evenlode river basin in southern England, a headwater tributary of the River Thames, river straightening, sedimentation in the river, soil compaction, and increasing built surfaces have reduced the land’s ability to absorb water. As a result, water runoff moves more quickly through the landscape, increasing flood risk on downstream communities. In 2007, a major storm flooded homes in one of the villages. 

Picture: infiltration test at Upper Thames conventional agricultural practice site (infield, where crops grow). (Neeraj Sah, UKCEH)

In the Thames basin, agriculture dominates the landscape. Decades of intensive farming and heavy machinery have reduced the soil’s ability to absorb and retain water. 

Today, farmers are testing regenerative practices, while researchers monitor how these approaches can restore the soil’s natural ‘sponge’ function.  

On 16 April 2026, Slovenia hosted its National Sponge Day in Ljubljana. The event was organised at the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Civil and Geodetic Engineering within the framework of the 42nd Goljevšček Memorial Day (an annual event dedicated to the memory of Mr. Milovan Goljevšček, one of the pioneers of hydrotechnical engineering in Slovenia).

SpongeScapes was represented in Brussels on March 11, 2026 at a major joint policy event together with SpongeWorks, MERLIN and WaterLANDS, bringing the sponge landscapes concept directly into discussions on the future of European nature restoration and water resilience. During the event, Ellis Penning (Deltares), coordinator of SpongeScapes and co-coordinator of SpongeWorks, introduced the sponge landscapes approach and moderated a session on restoration upscaling.

On 28 January 2026, more than 20 stakeholders gathered in the Lèze valley, France, for the second SpongeLab workshop. The workshop was jointly organised with the Horizon Europe project SpongeWorks, which is also active in the Lèze basin. 

While SpongeWorks addresses the entire Lèze basin, SpongeScapes focuses its SpongeLab process on one sub-basin: the Rosé. This workshop created an opportunity to work across both geographical scales.