The waste water from the Paaspop festival is not discharged into the Wintelre sewer, but the festival processes it properly according to the rules and delivers the waste water to the sewage treatment plant. This is what Paaspop director Chris Seijkens says. According to him, this probably also applies to some other festivals.
On Sunday morning it became known that millions of liters of feces had been illegally dumped in the sewer in Wintelre for years. This was evident from research by Omroep Brabant. This concerns toilet water from major festivals in the Netherlands and Belgium, but also pig manure.
The discharges took place at the company of entrepreneur Pierre Daas. A criminal investigation has been launched into him.
Sewage treatment
Paaspop emerged as one of the organizations that did business with the Volume Rental company. That company is doing business with Daas again.
Seijkens from Paaspop now says that he has not done business with Volume Rental and that there is no question that waste water from the festival was ultimately dumped in the Wintelre sewer.
Paaspop rents manure bags from a supplier. “Our supplier may also rent manure bags from the company mentioned in the article,” says Seijkens. “The manure bags arrive at us empty, but then leave empty again.”
Professionals
The director explains how the collection and processing of waste water works at Paaspop. “Professionals come to us to set up an installation that we use during the festival,” he says. “The wastewater is temporarily stored in manure bags and then we neatly deliver it to the sewage treatment plant in Schijndel.”
According to the director, the wastewater is further processed there according to the rules.
9 million liters
It is still unclear from which major festivals the wastewater was ultimately discharged into the Wintelre sewer.
Research by Omroep Brabant revealed this weekend that almost nine million liters of wastewater will have been discharged at the Daas site in Wintelre in 2023. Pig manure would also end up in the sewer.
The discharges caused many problems in the sewerage system and odor nuisance for local residents for a long time. Several government organizations have started investigations into the discharges and possible economic crimes.
It is still unclear whether this will also lead to prosecution. The Public Prosecution Service cannot say anything about this.