Even in rainy Flanders, water is becoming scarce
International investigation into the state of European groundwater, with scrollytelling of QGIS maps of Flemish water bodies, an animated measurement point map and Flourish charts on water consumption.
Even in rainy Flanders, water is becoming scarce. That is the paradoxical conclusion of an international investigation involving journalists from seven European countries. For De Standaard, we mapped the state of Flemish groundwater based on reporting data that member states submitted to the EU.
The piece combines multiple layers of data visualization. In QGIS, maps were created of all groundwater bodies showing their status regarding depletion, chemical pollution and declining levels. These maps are revealed step by step in a scrollytelling format: first the deep water bodies, then the shallow ones, each colored by a different indicator. An animated dot map shows the VMM measurement points. Stripped-down maps of West Flanders and Limburg display agricultural parcels with vegetable and fruit cultivation alongside the measurement points. The whole is carried by photography and video of irrigation, drought and flooding.
- Ine Renson Text
- Maxie Eckert Text
- Andy Stevens Data visualization
- Bart De Neve Infographics
- Jonas Swolfs Animation