The Lisem Project: An Introduction

In the loess area of The Netherlands a soil erosion project has been carried out to examine the present-day amounts of overland flow, erosion and deposition in drainage basins in the South Limburg region and to assess the effects of conservation measures and land use changes using simulation models. As part of the project, which was ordered by the Province of Limburg, the Waterboard ‘Roer en Overmaas’, the Ministry of Agriculture and 14 municipalities of South Limburg, the physically based hydrological and soil erosion model LISEM (the Limburg soil erosion model) has been developed. In this paper the history and scope of the project are explained, as well as the field and laboratory programme. In addition the research drainage basins are described.