Belgium Faces Worst Drought Since the 1970s

Belgium is heading toward its worst drought since the 1970s, and the strain is now reaching the country’s drinking water supply. Brussels water utility Vivaqua may be forced to further cut production at a key extraction site on the Meuse river, while 17 Walloon municipalities have already imposed water-use restrictions and tanker trucks are delivering supplies in Libramont.

The warning comes from the Royal Meteorological Institute (KMI), after one of the driest summers on record. With no significant rainfall expected until mid-October at the earliest — and possibly not until November — officials are preparing for the most severe and sustained dry spell in half a century.

A Rainfall Deficit Across the Country

According to VRT NWS, KMI meteorologist Pascal Mormal says the drought is deepening the further south one looks. “In 80 percent of the country there is a rainfall deficit,” he said. “Only a few corners of West Flanders and Limburg get more or less normal amounts of rain. But take Uccle: there we expect 21 to 22 millimeters of rain for this month. Normally that is 65 millimeters.”

Mormal warned that no near-term relief is in sight. “For at least until mid-October we expect no large amounts of rain,” he said. “It could even be that we have to wait until November.” The KMI’s drought maps already show much of the country coloured brown, reflecting the accumulated deficit.

For such a long, unbroken dry period, Mormal noted, Belgium must look back to the 1970s. He said the current situation is comparable to the 2018 drought — which the Flemish government formally recognised as an agricultural disaster — “but with the next 10 days added on, it gets worse.”

Drinking Water Under Pressure in Brussels

The most immediate consequences are being felt in Brussels. Vivaqua supplies drinking water to more than 2 million customers across the capital and parts of Wallonia and Flanders. Its Profondeville extraction centre on the Meuse accounts for about 30 percent of its water, and production there has already been capped at 130,000 cubic metres per day since mid-July.

That cap could soon drop to 90,000 cubic metres per day. “That would therefore have very real consequences,” said Nicolas Yernaux, spokesperson for the SPW, the Walloon public service responsible for infrastructure, speaking to RTBF. “Vivaqua would probably be forced to draw on its reserves.”

The Walloon drought crisis cell warned on 21 September of a “significant limitation of production” at Vivaqua. The company declined to answer questions from VRT NWS that day. Vivaqua has already activated two reserve sources in the quarries of Écaussinnes and Ligny, and last month — when the Meuse flow at the Tailfer plant approached the critical 19 cubic metres per second threshold — it asked customers to limit their consumption.

An Uneven Crisis

The drought is exposing sharp geographic divides within Belgium. Most Flemish drinking water companies draw from groundwater, which is less dependent on rainfall than rivers and canals, so the region remains at “code yellow” — heightened vigilance, but no restrictions yet.

Water-link, which supplies Antwerp and surrounding municipalities, is an exception because it draws all its water from the Albert Canal, which is fed by the Meuse. Nonetheless, spokesperson Riet Delsin said there will be “sufficient water available, and no production reduction needs to be planned,” citing flow forecasts by the Flemish Waterway authority.

In Wallonia, the picture is more serious. As of 21 September, 17 municipalities had restrictions on drinking-water use, up from 15 in mid-August — a sign of a worsening trend. In Libramont, in Luxembourg province, tanker trucks are being deployed to guarantee supply. Fishing bans and navigation restrictions on Walloon waterways remain in force.

Building on a Multi-Year Deficit

This year’s drought compounds an already fragile water balance. The KMI confirmed that 2025 was Belgium’s driest year since 1976, with only 615.9 millimetres of rain recorded in Uccle. Summer 2026 was the warmest on record, averaging 20.3°C in Uccle — 2.4 degrees above normal.

The deficit is not confined to Belgium. The Meuse is an international river, and upstream French départements have also been placed under reinforced drought alerts, adding pressure to the same shared system.

What’s Next

Forecasts point to more rain in November and December, but experts caution that much depends on how it arrives. Sustained, gentle rain would soak into soils and begin replenishing reserves; heavy downpours would simply run off to the sea.

Mormal stressed that a single wet season may not be enough. “Let’s hope we get a lot of precipitation,” he said. “2025 was already a dry year, and now we’re dealing with drought again for several months. That’s not good. Without good rain, that could certainly cause us problems in 2027.”

For now, uncertainty remains. Whether Vivaqua will be forced to cut production further — and by how much — has not been settled, and the company has yet to respond publicly. The precise flow rate of the Meuse at Tailfer is likewise unconfirmed, leaving the capital’s water security hanging on both the weather and the river.