“Maintenance of holding basins must be cheaper”
Mayor of Anzegem Gino Devogelaere: “The ground of the holding basin normally has to be three meters deeper to have capacity. Now that is no longer the case, it is completely finished.”
The holding basin was constructed 25 years ago: it is no longer really deep. The soil is still a bit moist. But actually that is sludge, they should actually excavate that very thick layer.
“Processing sludge is unaffordable”
“The problem is the sludge, processing the sludge: we are no longer allowed to take the sludge to the fields, it has to go to processing. That is actually the same as remediation. But who can pay for that? Nobody can afford that anymore.”
The scooping out of this holding basin is at the expense of the province, but the municipality itself also has holding basins, such as here in Vichte. The depth here has halved in twenty years, but the municipality does not dig anything, because it is unaffordable.
“Maybe that the higher government has a solution, together with the municipalities, we are happy to participate in that,” says Mayor Devogelaere.