Brussels' big plan to reopen part of Senne river

A stretch of the Senne river, which has been hidden under the streets of Brussels for the past century and a half, could one day soon be reopened to public view.

Bruxelles Environnement has announced a feasibility study into the project, which would see a few hundred metres of the buried river uncovered in the Maximilian Park near Brussels North station, where the river flows about 10 metres below ground level. If all goes to plan, work would begin in five years, funded by a European Union grant.

The idea comes 150 years after Brussels mayor Jules Anspach decided to hide the Senne under tonnes of concrete. "It was an open sewer at the time," said Bruxelles Environnement spokeswoman Nathalie Guilmin. "There were bad smells, mosquitos, it was seen as a nuisance for the residents at the time."

According to the environmental organisation, the Senne's water quality has improved considerably in recent years. Further down the river, near Van Praet, a fish count in 2010 came back with a zero result. In 2013, one fish was counted and last year there were 200, belonging to 15 different species.