In the autumn of 2019, we decided with all partners to bring together existing and new actions around World Water Day (22 March) in 2020 in a new umbrella initiative. With their respective water days in the spring, Wallonia and Brussels already had a good basis for raising awareness about this and a first edition was also organized in Flanders in 2020. Shortly after the New Year, the Fiere Rivieren campaign was christened, a name that expresses what we want to achieve. People should be proud of their rivers and therefore take care of them. Spread across the three regions, we had brought together 14 actions within the campaign, ranging from excursions to a water expo and drought walk.

The Brussels minister Alain Marron inaugurated our works on the Paepsemlaan on 9 March 2020 and immediately kicked off the campaign. The flyers, flags and posters were ready, a social media campaign and photo competition started, the final preparations were made. And then came Corona… There was nothing left to do but with a heavy heart to cancel all activities and postpone the campaign to 2021.