Restoration to parts of Brussels’ Senne river

The Senne river in Brussels will get a little wider. Under new plans from the capital’s environment agency, they will reduce infrastructure in three places along the route to better expose the small contributing streams on the river banks. Starting by replacing the concrete walls on Boulevard Paepsem in Anderlecht with natural banks.

The Senne is 103 kilometres long and runs from Soignies in Hainaut province up to Mechelen in Antwerp province. The river some 200 years ago used to have more presence in Brussels, with it even flowing through many parts of the nowadays city centre. Now it is contained to one small canal on the eastern part of the city.

This move represents part of a larger urban project to renew the area by cleaning and restoring the length of the river. The river will also have natural banks and more foliage placed in Haren, and some restoration of the part that flows Maximilien park. Aiming to have this all completed by 2022.