The Danish capital is preparing for an upsurge in torrential rain over the coming decades due to climate change. Giant infrastructure is being built above and below ground to make the city more resilient to heavy downpours.
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00:00How many meters deep?
00:0120 meters deep.
00:02You can't have vertigo.
00:06Water is Copenhagen's charm,
00:08but it can also be its worst nightmare.
00:11Faced with rising natural risks,
00:13the capital of Denmark is at the forefront of climate resilience.
00:17Here, what everyone is afraid of are the water blades.
00:21Rainy, torrential and very destructive episodes.
00:25The city of Copenhagen has a plan.
00:27It's happening on the surface, but also under our feet.
00:30Let's see.
00:35The scientists are formal.
00:37These big storms will multiply in the next decades.
00:40To better manage these volumes of water,
00:42the city has decided to dig tunnels like this one.
00:57It's a long way down.
00:59About 20 meters lower,
01:01this 1.5-kilometer-long hole
01:03connects the harbour to the city's inland lake.
01:06In a storm event, all this area will be full of water.
01:10If you think of a kilometer of streets,
01:13knee-deep with water,
01:15that's what this tunnel should hold.
01:18The city has meticulously modeled the water flows during storms.
01:23Here's another example.
01:26The Karlsberg district on this hill
01:28can store 3,000 cubic meters of water.
01:30In the event of a flood,
01:31the rain will be poured down
01:33in Engabenparken Historic Park, downstream.
01:35The system will first fill this football field,
01:38then this lake,
01:40and finally this garden.
01:42If that's not enough,
01:43these walls will flood the entire park,
01:45which will contain the equivalent of 8 Olympic pools.
01:56That was also the idea when we started this project.
01:59We said this should be a part of the city.
02:01It looks like a part as it should.
02:04The city also deploys solutions
02:06based on nature on a smaller scale.
02:08These rain gardens were set up
02:10in this residential district.
02:12More permeable soils are also tested,
02:14as in this alley.
02:17Hi, good morning.
02:18Nice to meet you.
02:19Nice to meet you.
02:20It's been years since the European Environment Agency,
02:23based here in Copenhagen,
02:25invites cities to invest in more resilience
02:27in the face of climate change.
02:30It's very important to make sure
02:32that there is enough space
02:34for all kinds of rain gardens.
02:36While you make sure that you compensate
02:38for the large areas of roofs,
02:40of roads and so on,
02:42with sufficient volume where you can store the water,
02:44and where you can also allow it
02:46to infiltrate further in the soil.
02:48That is a challenge for cities.
02:50They are acting a lot,
02:52but a lot more needs to be done.
02:54You got it.
02:55Better to warn than cure.
02:57See you soon in Water Matters.
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