1,000km of Flanders’ sewer network is in a poor state of repair
Around a thousand kilometres of the sewer network in Flanders is in urgent need of repair. That’s the conclusion of an inventory of the sewers in our region that was drafted at the behest of Flanders’ municipal and city authorities. An investment of some 85 million euro is required to cover the cost of the most urgent repairs.
A few years ago, local authorities in Flanders were asked to examine the state of their sewers. There is a total of 50,000km of sewers in Flanders. So far around a quarter of these have already been inspected. Of these around 15% were found to be in a poor condition.
Danny Verhulst of the wastewater treatment company Aquafin told journalists that "85 million euro is needed to cover the most urgent repairs. If we add the slightly less urgent issues to this we reach a figure of 240 million euro".
There is a real risk of sewers collapsing causing sink holes in roads if repairs are not carried out within the next few years. The repairs will be co-financed by the Flemish regional authority and the local authorities. The regional authority will cover 75% of the cost of the repairs.
The Flemish Environment Minister Zuhal Demir (nationalist) says that funding for the repairs will have to be found by the next Flemish government.