The river basin of the Meuse in Flanders constitutes of 3 parts with several catchments. The northern part flows to the Netherlands. The north eastern section connects in part directly to the Meuse and partly flows to the Netherlands through smaller streams. A small southern part connects to the Walloon region. Agriculture is responsible for a large part of the emission of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) to the surface waters in the basin. For N, agriculture is responsible for 70% of the emissions, with households, sewage treatment plants and atmospheric deposition more or less equally accounting for the remainder. For P, agriculture, households and sewage treatments plants are all responsible for around 30% of emissions. Industry has a smaller part in the emissions of N and P (< 10%).
With regards to policy, most of the catchments in the Meuse basin are designated as priority catchments in regards to the WFD targets and the 3rd RBMP. The goal in those catchments is to take all necessary measures by 2027 for attaining good ecological status. On the other hand, several of those catchments have very high nitrate concentrations and are designated in the highest category with regards to the Nitrates Directive where the strongest measures are applied in the 6th Manure Action Plan.
