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Flanders meets waste water standards

The waste water collector that was put into use in Kruibeke has put Flanders in line with European guidelines for urban waste water. Flemish Minister for the Environment, Joke Schauvliege CD&V, who attended the opening, lauded the Flemish waste water policy, saying: “We can be proud of our total compliance with European guidelines for urban waste water. This fine piece of work was made possible through enormous investments and the efforts of many stakeholders.” When Aquafin was established by the Flemish Region in 1990, only 30% of all Flemish household waste water was purified, which was way behind neighbouring countries. Europe then stipulated that all member countries had until 1998 to upgrade all urban areas with a population above 10 000, and gave them until 2005 to upgrade those with between 2 000 and 10 000 residents. During the past 20 years Flanders invested a total of 3.7 billion euros in water purification via Aquafin, with an additional 1.2 billion spent on subsidies to support 3 200 municipal projects. All these efforts have resulted in 80% of all household waste water in Flanders currently being purified. “The waste that ends up in our rivers is three to five times less today,” says Aquafin chairman Marc van den Abeelen. “Our streams and rivers contain more oxygen, with an overall increase in life. An increasing number of sea and estuary fish species can be found in the River Scheldt as they migrate upstream from the sea.” There has been remarkable progress. In 1991 about 12% of all measuring points showed heavy pollution. Today heavily polluted surface water is rarely to be found. The minister stressed that the work has not yet been completed and that concerted efforts will be made to extend the sewerage system.