Programme Vlario

Wastewater treatment and re-use of treated wastewater in rural areas

(In Dutch)

The re-use of treated wastewater

With the Water-Conscious Building project, Buildwise, Embuild Vlaanderen, NAV, Vlakwa and VLARIO published a Code of Good Practice at the start of this year with solutions for making built environments more resilient against drought and water scarcity. In principle, we already have the solution because we can meet 60% of our water use with rainwater and second-circuit water instead of drinking water, and that is precisely the challenge in Flanders: to use water more consequentially in order to protect ourselves against the effects of drought.

One solution is to focus on re-use of treated wastewater, which has not yet become standard practice because not enough is known about its potential, there is little to no incentive for owners to adopt it and there are legal stumbling blocks. During this study day we will tell you everything you need to know about its possible applications and how to arrive at a good design.

Wastewater treatment in rural areas

In rural areas that do not yet have sewerage, the owners often have to purify the wastewater themselves. The European Urban Wastewater Directive (Europese Richtlijn Stedelijk Afvalwater, ERSA) imposes new rules for this. From 1 January 2025, the Flemish Spatial Planning Codex (VCRO) will also require individual wastewater treatment installations (IBAs) in the rural areas that are to be collectively optimised if it will take more than 6 years before a sewerage project is planned and the construction of more than 9 homes is involved. We will guide you through these new regulations.