Belgium gets €200m for wastewater schemes

The European Investment Bank and Flanders wastewater business Aquafin have signed the first €50 million instalment of a €200 million 30-year loan for new water treatment schemes, the Construction Index reports. The loan will be used to finance projects involving additional sanitation at various discharge locations, the building of wastewater treatment works and the laying of strategic rainwater piping to improve the existing infrastructure. The efforts of the previous 20 years ensured that, in September, the Flemish Region was the first Belgian region to comply with the EU Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive, which specifies that wastewater from all towns with more than 2,000 inhabitants must be treated before being discharged into a watercourse. Now, 80 percent of household wastewater in Flanders is treated, compared to barely 30 percent in the early 1990s, and there is three to five times less pollution in the region’s rivers. “The fact that aquatic animals that were previously never or rarely seen are now returning in growing numbers to the region’s waterways is the best indication that biological water quality has dramatically improved,” said Aquafin managing director Luc Bossyns. “Now we want to keep up the momentum and meet the requirements of the EU Water Framework Directive, which seeks to achieve good water quality in all streams and rivers.”