#Arrondissement of Halle-Vilvoorde

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Zaventemsesteenweg, Diegem, Flemish Brabant.

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Thanks to its own purification station, the Belgian supermarket group Colruyt hardly uses city water anymore

The company buildings of supermarket chain Colruyt Group[1] on the industrial zonings of Dassenveld, Wilgenveld, Elbeek and Hellebroek require a lot of water for their Halle-based[2] business activities for sanitary, drinking water and general operations. But since Colruyt started using a water purification station in the Dassenveld at the end of 2021, the company barely uses city water.

“Normally we would have consumed at least 8,000 m³ of mains water at our Dassenveld[3], Elbeek and Wilgenveld sites with this warm summer. That corresponds to the capacity of three Olympic swimming pools,” says project manager Peter Basteleus. “Thanks to a new water purification station, this has been reduced to about 10% of our water consumption. The other 90% of our water is treated wastewater and collected rainwater.”

“With the present production capacity, we can purify 11 m3 of drinking water per hour in this new purification station, good for about 90,000 m³ of waste water per year. We only need some city water to remineralise the water in order to reuse the recycled water as drinking water.”

Double water pipes

“In concrete terms, we have installed double water pipes both underground and above ground: waste water from the three sites in one direction and purified drinking water in the other direction,” says Peter Basteleus. “Our head office at Wilgenveld was the first to be connected to the water purification station, about 1.2 kilometers from the installation. This was followed by the Elbeek site with offices and warehouses, and our distribution centre Dassenveld. If all goes well, the Hellebroek site will also follow. The pipes are currently being installed.”

In addition to purifying waste water, Colruyt also invested in expanding the existing buffer basins so that a total of 9,500 m³ of rainwater can now be stored here. That water is purified with sand and UV filters to be used for cooling installations and sanitary facilities. What is special is that a water tunnel on the Dassenveld, that was originally intended for automated transport but was never used for this purpose, was converted into an extra water buffer.

Even better

To realize this special piece of water technology, Colruyt Group worked together with the technology company Waterleau[4].“The water quality is constantly monitored,” says engineer Hannah Vandewiele. “Colruyt really plays a pioneering role here. We expect this to boost support for water reuse among other companies and the general public as well.” With the water purification station on the Dassenveld Colruyt is becoming a seasoned ecologic player. The Fine Food Meat department also has its own water purification installation on the Colruyt site at industrial zoning Stroppen[5].

Source

Ingrid Depraetere: Dankzij eigen zuiveringsstation verbruikt Colruyt amper nog stadswater: “De kwaliteit is zo goed dat we het zelfs drinken”, in: Made in VLAAMS-BRABANT, 07-09-2022; https://www.made-in.be/vlaams-brabant/dankzij-eigen-zuiveringsstation-verbruikt-colruyt-amper-nog-stadswater-de-kwaliteit-is-zo-goed-dat-we-het-zelfs-drinken/

[1] Colruyt Group is a Belgian family-owned retail corporation that is managing the Colruyt supermarkets and other subsidiaries such as OKay, Bio-Planet, DATS 24, DreamLand, DreamBaby, and more. Founded in 1928 by Franz Colruyt, the group today is most significantly known for its eponymous discount supermarket chain, which is one of the major players in especially Belgium. Colruyt Group is headquartered in the city of Halle and has operations in Belgium, France and Luxembourg.

[2] Halle is a city and municipality of Belgium, in the district (arrondissement) Halle-Vilvoorde of the province Flemish Brabant. It is located on the Brussels-Charleroi Canal and on the Flemish side of the language border that separates Flanders and Wallonia. The city borders on the Pajottenland to the west. The official language of Halle is Dutch. The municipality Halle comprises the city of Halle proper and the towns of Buizingen and Lembeek.

[3] The industrial zones Dassenveld and Stroppen were developed in the late twentieth century by the intermunicipal partnership Haviland, a public organisation owned by the 35 municipalities of the district Halle-Vilvoorde as well as the province of Flemish Brabant. The industrial zones are home to several companies, not just Colruyt.

[4] Waterleau is a Belgian company expert in closing the water loop. From wastewater treatment to water recovery. From plant design to process automation. They unfold every resource from every water drop: pure water, energy and nutrients. The company is nowadays part of Group Machiels, a global operator in renewable energy, environmental services as well as residential and industrial real estate. They are 550 water experts operating in all continents.

[5] Cf. note 3

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Vraag aan Minister Geens

Gisteren werd de gerechtelijke wereld opgeschrikt door het feit dat de 1e voorzitter van het tweetalige Hof van Beroep van Brussel , van Franstalige origine volledig Nederlandsonkundig is.

Dat is toch niet meer van deze tijd ?

Die 1e voorzitter is de korpschef, de manager van de ploeg raadheren op niveau van dat Hof van Beroep van Brussel dat ook bevoegd is voor Halle-Vilvoorde en Leuven.

Dan is het toch vanzelfsprekend dat hij of zij beide landstalen meester is ? Bovendien is het zo dat bij de hervorming van het gerechtelijk arrondissement in 2012 wettelijk is voorzien dat zowel de korpschef (rechter) voor de rechtbank van 1e aanleg als de Procureur des Konings ( Openbaar Ministerie) een grondige kennis moet hebben van de “andere landstaal” .

Het lijkt me dan ook logisch dat we voor het Hof van Beroep dezelfde regeling invoeren en toepassen.

 Minister van Justitie, Koen Geens ondersteunt die zienswijze en is bereid om mee het voortouw te nemen en hiervoor een meerderheid te zoeken om dit ook effectief te kunnen realiseren. 

Wij zijn alvast bereid om op korte termijn een wetsvoorstel voor te bereiden om dit nog deze of volgende legislatuur te stemmen.

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Dilbeek, Flemish Brabant.