Belgium’s De Watergroep secures €200m loan for water network expansion

The European Investment Bank (EIB) and De Watergroep have signed a €200 million ($210.9 million) loan to expand the latter’s network of water supply infrastructure.

De Watergroep will use the financing from the EIB to thoroughly renew drinking water infrastructure in Flanders, to ensure the sustainable management of the water cycle. By improving the network, De Watergroep also aims to reduce leakages and energy consumption.

The rehabilitation and upgrading of the network concerns approximately 3,000km of pipes throughout the four Flemish regions where De Watergroep is active. De Watergroep will also increase the number of sensors deployed in the network, and increase connectivity of these sensors, to detect leakages and intervene promptly.

The loan was signed as a first part of a €350 million ($369 million) loan announced in availability for the coming five years.

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De Watergroep’s water network

De Watergroep is wholly owned by the regional government and by the municipalities in which it delivers drinking water.

The company’s service area has a combined population of about 3.3 million inhabitants, covering 177 municipalities in four of the five Flemish provinces. In 2023, drinking water production was about 125 million m3, coming from 91 different production locations.

The loan will fund nearly half of De Watergroep’s 2023-2028 investment programme, which focuses on renewing old pipes to minimise leakages, and extending the network by some 800km to serve new clients. The rehabilitation of the drinking water network will also allow Watergroep to better adapt to climate change risks such as more frequent and longer dry periods.

De Watergroup manages over 34.600km of distribution pipes, in which the company invested some €136 million ($143.4 million) last year.

Commenting in a release was EIB vice-president Robert de Groot: “In Belgium, water is one of the core sectors for our support. We are happy to engage with De Watergroep as a new counterpart.

“Our water supply needs to be adapted to a changing climate, notably if very dry and extremely wet periods become more frequent and more extreme. We are happy to join De Watergroep in ensuring that the people of Flanders continue to have reliable access to safe and clean drinking water.”

Said De Watergroep CEO Hans Goossens: “This loan enables us to thoroughly modernise our infrastructure and make it future proof.”

“Not every drop of drinking water we produce will also come out of the tap. Leakages and broken pipes cause losses of water along the way. Thanks to this funding we will not only strengthen the resilience of our distribution network, but we also ensure that our over 3.3 million clients can rely on a sustainable and high-quality drinking water supply.”