Brussels - cleaner wtater means life in River Zenne 13/03/2008 00:00

On Tuesday King Albert officially opened the new Brussels North water purification plant.

On Tuesday King Albert officially opened the new Brussels North water purification plant.

Today 370,000 cubic metres of clean water flows out of the plant.

Before ending up in the River Zenne the water is purified, a process that takes 24 hours.

The procedure is without doubt necessary.

You'd be amazed what ends up in our sewers: everything that can get through basically, including sometimes even push chairs.

After bigger pieces of refuse are removed from the water the purification process starts.

The new plant is the largest and most modern in Europe.

When water leaves the plant it is 95% pure.

Brussels Environment Minister Evelyne Huytebroeck (Francophone ecologist) explains that before the new station came online, there was only one such station in Brussels that served 300,000 people. The rest of the sewerage was untreated.

The untreated water ended up in the River Zenne and the results were clear: the river was an open sewer without any life.

King Albert officially opened the new plant this week, but it started operations last year and the results are already clear.

Satellite photos show the difference and now for the first time in 400 years there is life in the River Zenne!

Today you can even find eels swimming in the water.

Thanks to the new purification plant the quality of the water of the River Zenne should improve significantly in the coming years.

flandersnews.be