The problems with the sewer in Haps will not be resolved until Wednesday afternoon at the earliest. Due to power outages at the water treatment plant, tens of thousands of people have to pay attention to their water use. The water board is still looking for the cause of the malfunction, only then can an emergency solution be found. Due to the problems with the purification, the sewer in Haps became full. The wastewater overflowed and ended up in ditches, streams and rivers. There was even feces on the site of the water treatment plant. Director Sabrina Helmyr of the Aa en Maas Water Board emphasizes that there is nothing wrong with the drinking water.
“The power to the sewage treatment plant has gone out,” says director Helmyr. As a result, water ended up in a basement where there is also high voltage. “The tension was relieved, but then we could no longer purify the water.” The pumps failed, leaving sludge and water on the treatment plant itself. “That is essentially what happened.”
The water therefore had to be drained in a different way. “We have tried to buffer as much as possible in the sewer system of the municipality of Land van Cuijk. At a certain point it is full and water comes out and goes to the surface water.” The water board now has one bypass placed around the purification. “We have now made a direct connection to the Meuse,” says Helmyr.
The sludge now also goes to the Maas. “We normally purify this before it goes into the Maas, so it is now of slightly lower quality. It is not expected to have a major impact on the Maas.”
Find the cause
In this way, residents experience as little inconvenience as possible and environmental damage is limited. “Because on the Maas, wastewater is diluted because it has a lot of water. So it has as little impact as possible there.” If the drainage had not been led to the Maas, the contaminated water would have remained in the sewer system and come out in all kinds of places. “That’s much more annoying, because it can do a lot more damage.”
The fire brigade was still busy pumping water out of the cellars on Tuesday. “As soon as they’re done, we’ll look for the cause.” If it is found, the power supply to the treatment plant can be restored on Wednesday. “If all goes well, the purification will slowly start working again tomorrow. But that depends on what we encounter tomorrow.”
‘Nothing wrong with drinking water’
The water board could not, like hospitals, deploy an emergency generator. “A sewage treatment plant of this size uses so much electricity,” the director explains. “We cannot have emergency generators ready for that.” In the event of incidents, emergency power must therefore be arranged again and again. “But that is too much to have it ready permanently.”
About 90,000 households from the Land van Cuijk, Odiliapeel and Zeeland were affected by the disruption. The water board asks them to produce as little waste water as possible, so to flush the toilet and shower as little as possible. “Then we get as little waste water as possible to the treatment plant. That is very nice for us and it helps prevent us from having to discharge the water untreated into the Maas.”
Helmyr emphasizes that there is nothing wrong with the drinking water. “So people can simply use drinking water, cook and take medicine. That’s no problem at all. It’s mainly about the wastewater that goes through the drain. We have some difficulty with that.”