Barge on the L’Escaut River.

The territory of Belgium is covered with a dense network of calm and full-flowing rivers, which includes two large rivers in Europe - the Meuse and the Scheldt. The predominant direction of river flow is from southwest to northeast, most of the rivers are navigable and do not freeze in winter when the main flow passes through them. Flowing through the territory of Belgium, the Scheldt is replenished by the waters of the rivers Lys (near Ghent), Dandre (near Dendermonde), Durme (near Hamme), Rupel (near Antwerp) and already in the Netherlands forms the West Scheldt estuary. Among the tributaries of the Meuse are Ermeton, Sambre (flows into Namur), Meen, Vezdre (in Liege), the joint delta of the Rhine and Meuse is also in the Netherlands. In Low Belgium, because of flood threats, a system was created to regulate the flow with the help of a network of pumping stations, canals (Gent-Terneuzen, Brussels-Schelde, Albert Canal, etc.) and locks. There are few lakes in Belgium, and all of them are small. There are many artificial reservoirs, the largest of which is Lake Eau d’Heure. According to a 2005 estimate, Belgium has 20.8 km³ of renewable water resources, of which km³ is consumed per year (13% for utilities, 85% for industry and 1% for agricultural needs).