Working on Sponge Measures, Sponge Strategies and NWRM requires understanding of a broad range of key concepts. This page gathers definitions for a set of key concepts used when addressing this topic. It will be progressively enriched with new concepts. It sets a shared ontology, with interlinkages between concepts that will be made more visible in the coming year.
Afforestation is the process of planting trees, either to replace those removed during forest harvesting or as a means of land use conversion. Afforestation is part of several natural water retention measures as it can contribute to a more natural and sustainable hydrologic cycle.
Agronomic practices which have the primary purpose of improvements to agriculture can, in some cases, contribute to the functioning of natural water retention measures. As such, they integrate sustainable and natural water management into current practices.
The design and material used in forest road building may have strong impact on erosion risk and water quality in streams. Bridges or culverts used at stream crossings must be properly designed to minimise negative impacts on the aquatic environment.
AGR stores large quantities of water in underground aquifers to increase the quantity of groundwater in times of shortage.ﾠ It results in a lowering of run-off from surrounding land, and in an enhanced natural condition of aquifers and water availability.ﾠ The natural cleaning process of water percolating through the soils when entering the AGR improves water quality. Mechanisms used to undertake the recharge should be highlighted.