Activity report

VLARIO - activity report

At the end of 2010 VLARIO, the consulting platform and centre of sewerage knowledge in Flanders had exactly 415 members. Almost 60% of them are public administrations, 17% are engineering offices, 12% are suppliers and 8% are contractors. Further members of VLARIO are also a number of federations and certification institutions.

If we look at the evolution of the number of members, we can see a significant increase. This proves that sewerage and waste water treatment issues are still very relevant items in Flanders.

The working groups are of course the heart of VLARIO. They all work on one specific topic. You find an overview of each working group’s achievements on our website. The following topics catch the eye: the pipe material matrix en the manual ‘Practical disconnection of rainwater’ – see also www.vlario.be --> documents. Furthermore, VLARIO collaborated on “Water manual building and rebuilding”, a publication of the Flemish Environmental Association”.

The next important subject is the overview of workshops. The leader of them most certainly is the annual VLARIO day. Furthermore, the workshop during the Belgian Road Congress has taken place and also a workshop about safe access to sewers, which will certainly be continued in 2011.

In the past year, VLARIO also organized seven trainings. There often were so many interested participants that several sessions had to be arranged for.

Some more details about the participants: there were not less than 1597 participants in trainings and workshops during the working year 2010.The outstanding quality of these trainings is confirmed by the recognition given by the Flemish Authorities under the terms of the small and medium-sized enterprises portfolio. The workshops organized by VLARIO are also recognized by the Federal Council of land surveyors experts and the Funds for Vocational Training.

In the following years also VLARIO will continue its efforts to increase the quality and continuity in the Flemish sewerage and waste water treatment sector.

Summary of the sewerage sector’s situation - 2010

Some main figures of the VLARIO day – the sewerage sector’s consultation moment in Flanders

The VLARIO day 2010 was again a bull’s-eye. With 740 persons present, the number of subscribers was not less that 8 percent higher. The VLARIO day is and remains a yearly encounter for everyone from the sector of water treatment and sewerage. The highlights of the VALRIO day were the granting of the first certificates “surveyors for private sewers”, the launching of some renewed republications “The water manual for building and rebuilding” and the “Pipe material matrix”.

Comments of the delegate of the Environment Cabinet during the VARIO day

Since the beginning of the nineties, the quality of the water has noticeably been improved. That is shown by measurements in brooks, canals and rivers. Moreover, thanks to the General Directives Water, there is now a more integrated approach. In the European directive, the juridical frame for the protection of surface and ground water is set. The goal is to have a better water quality everywhere in 2015. How Flanders is planning to achieve this, is described in the catchment basin administration plans for the Scheldt and the Maas. The Flemish government will soon go into this matter. An inventory of all measures is being made firstly. Besides the actual water treatment policy and the basin administration plans, supplementary measures are required for water services, the quality and quantity of ground water, channel beds, suppression of shortages and nuisance in view of climate changes.

The most efficient ones are selected to be executed until 2015. Some of them can be carried through with a limited budget.

On the other hand, there are about 15 measures demanding heavier financial efforts. Therefore, they will be applied first in the so called spearhead areas. Those are especially areas, where a good water condition seems to be feasible against the end of 2015. The geographical spreading over the different basins is taken into account. Some examples of this kind of measures are: the optimization of the waste water improvement infrastructure, the approach towards diffuse sources of pollution, erosion issues, and the rehabilitation of channel beds, structure repair measures and the elimination of fish migration pressure points. The purpose is that knowledge is gathered with respect to cost effectiveness, efficiency and cooperation.

The rehabilitation infrastructure is developed in two ways. For one thing this is the continuation of making connections to the central water treatment infrastructure, and for the other thing there is the gradual replacement of the existing septic tanks by individual water treatment installation. This vision is laid down in so called zoning plans. The study which investment projects are to be tackled first is now ongoing.

In order to do this, VMM (the Flemish Environment Association) enters into consultation with the municipalities. The first of such execution plans will be accomplished by the end of 2011. The entry of the rehabilitation obligation in the drinking water decree in 2004 gave the water treatment policy in Flanders a new impulse. On the municipal level, many efforts are still required for the collection and transport of waste water to the collectors and water treatment plants. Also because of the rehabilitation obligation, new inter-municipal cooperation and public undertakings ware formed. Other municipalities decided to continue the construction of sewers on their own. Apart from the financial reorganization in 2004, additional financial impulses were created. The financial means for the subsidizing programme for the communities were raised and by means of the local pact, the Flemish Region takes over 100 million of euros of municipal investments each year and will be doing this 7 years long. In a general water sales regulation, The Flemish Environment minister wishes to incorporate a number of rules in general water sales regulations setting the rights and obligations of the drinking water associations, the sewer operators and the customers for drinking water supply and rehabilitation. For this reorganization, the minister provides amongst others a compulsory testing of private sewers in case of new building and large rebuilding works. In that way, there will be more certitude that the waste water is offered correctly at the building line.

The minister requests attention for the correct design of private sewers, for which the new “Water manual for building and rebuilding” is a help. Furthermore, she points out that there is a need for appropriate sewer maintenance and management. In this context, VMM is developing indicators for the supra municipal and municipal net. The minister has ordered VMM to work out a financing model. This is now in the fine-tuning stadium. With this model, every municipality will be able to calculate which financial efforts and maintenance of their sewer infrastructure are required.

What is the Flemish water treatment’s score from an ecological point of view?

Charting the quality of the sewer infrastructure administration is the outspoken wish of the Flemish Region, says Steven Van Den Broeck. “The patrimony is immense. In case of insufficient management, the ecological damage can be considerable. The good ecological condition as requested by the general directions does not leave much room for mistakes”, explains Van Den Broeck. The ecological inspection department of VMM assesses the expansion and the management of the supra municipal and municipal sewerage infrastructure by means of different indicators.

The supra municipal indicator net was fully tested by way of quality data. The purpose is that the measuring system instigates a correction system. For the municipal net, there are no figures available and therefore a general list of questions was applied. The indicator system aims at charting the expansion as well as the management of both nets.

The main task of the supra municipal infrastructure is to transport the sewage water towards the treatment installation with minimal losses s. It is there that is has to be purified as much as possible. The following indicators are applied:

Continuous operation of the rainwater purification installation’s pumping plant
The global purification output, i.e. the relation between the discharged and the incoming sewage load
The correct functioning of the pumping stations and critical transport pipes
The correct functioning of the overflows, especially with respect to frequency and impact
The guarantee and/or upkeep of the total draining system’s functioning, specifically: settlement of incidents and transfer of data.

The total result of the ecological assessment for the year 2008 of the supra municipal sewerage and treatment infrastructure is moderate up to good, be it with negative peaks. Because of the so called overflows, a considerable part of the efforts made for supplementary purification is wasted. The global result of the operational assessment (exclusive of the assessment of overflows) is very good.

The main task of the municipal infrastructure is to correctly receive the sewage water offered by households and companies. Further, it has to transport this water to the transfer points with minimal losses or purify them maximally if there is a municipal treatment installation. Furthermore, it has to fulfil its awarded controlling authority correctly. In 2009, the inquiry was made for the first time. It was completed by 188 municipalities. The questions that were asked treated topics such as:

The correct collection and transport of waste water with minimal losses with amongst others: degree of implementation, municipal policy with respect to house connections, degree of purification, dimensioning and operational functioning of the pumping stations, pipe dimensioning and upkeep of their operational condition, available knowledge of overflows.
Lack of connection / disconnection of unpolluted water with respect to the disconnection policy, inclusive of buffering and retarded discharge, actions regarding parasitic waters, connection of separate system sewers, interaction with the natural water system.
Global administration, i.e. service and data management.
Maximal purification on the local level, including the extension of the individual purification infrastructure and its control as well as surveillance of the assigned installations.

Balanced purification financing

Working group 1 of VLARIO has charted the financial needs. From this, a financial model has been developed. For the total of Flanders, municipal level information of cost figures (unit prices) for the collector sewer, the transport sewer and the ITI (Individual Treatment Installations) was collected. These figures show that 6323 km of collector sewers and 3816 km of sewage transport sewers are required.

The number of planned ITI is 52 757. The average cost of a sewer (inclusive of road repairs) is 741 €/lm.

The costs of an ITI are 6.500 €/ IBA. From these data, the replacement value of the existing municipal net on one side and the required investments on the other side were calculated. Related costs, inventory costs, modelling costs and exploitation costs (clearing and inspection, interventions, clearing of gullies) were estimated. All this was done for the sewers, but also for the hydraulic structures and the ditches. The assumptions that were made were clearly defined. For example with respect to the estimated lifespan, the credit term, returns and depreciation period. The average age of the studied infrastructure is 25 years. The main conclusion is that the required investments in municipal sewerage infrastructure of 6.7 billion € by the end of 2027 can be financed with a turnover of 660 million € mainly originating (70 % or 460 million €) from the maximal tariff and supplementary (30 % or 200 million €) from own financial means and other incomes (e.g. tariffs/m² paved surface). Besides that, it is clear that with the current maximal tariff 40 to 60 % of the estimated investments are practicable if the existing sewerage subsidies of 110 million € are maintained.

Examination of the financing sources for the municipal rainwater infrastructure

In order to fulfil all obligations attached to sewerage infrastructure, the administrators have to break into considerable amounts of money from their general financial sources. Of these sources, there are three possible categories: elevated rehabilitation contributions, tax and non-tax incomes or retributions and tariffs.

The rehabilitation contribution

We find that the sewer administrators are financing the installation and the maintenance of rainwater infrastructure now already by means of the rehabilitation contributions and the rehabilitation compensations. Strictly speaking, this is not a part of the drinking water companies’ rehabilitation obligation. Furthermore, the rehabilitation contribution for the municipal level is limited to 1.4 times the supra municipal contribution. In fact, this limitation is not of application for rainwater.

By means of tax instruments

Cities and municipalities principally have a broad tax autonomy with respect to municipal taxes. In practice this is limited by several rules. A recovery tax, although fallen in abeyance, could be an interesting instrument to defray the costs of the rainwater infrastructure. It could be claimed from those who have more advantage, e.g. because they are connected or have to connect to the rainwater sewer, i.e. with possibilities of exemption in case of full reuse, infiltration and buffering. In this way, a more justified distribution of the costs would become possible. Issues to solve are the treatment of unbuilt properties and later connections. For the first issue, an urbanisation tax could present a solution. It is only levied by some municipalities. A tax on building constructions would be another feasible solution. It could perhaps be grafted on a criterion of surface.

Retributions and tariffs

In this construction, the collection of rainwater coming from private properties is considered as a service because one is not obliged to connect a rainwater sewer. Consequently, the retribution is a fair contribution for an individual advantage coming from a service that is requested voluntarily. One of the advantages is that the manager maintains the right to deduct the VAT and that the intermunicipal cooperation associations can charge these tariffs. In this case too, a surface criterion could be applied. Moreover, the question whether the VAT on rainwater infrastructure can still be fully deductible in case of the introduction of the aforementioned financing possibilities is still unanswered.

Conclusion:

An increase of the rehabilitation contribution is mainly a policy-driven decision. It is best fitted in with the evaluation of the link to the costs of the supra municipal improvement.

Tax incomes have the advantage that they can more easily be collected. On the other hand they do have the disadvantage that the fiscal procedure is quite formal, that the right to VAT deduction could be questioned by the VAT administration and that fiscal incomes cannot directly be charged and collected by intermunicipal cooperation associations.

Retributions and tariffs offer the advantage that they are quite closely linked with the exiting transport service with respect to drinking water companies. Besides, they can also be charged by intermunicipal cooperation associations (in that case we speak of tariffs) and they principally maintain the right of deduction of VAT.

To be continued…

Pipe material matrix

The pipe material matrix is a manual for a well-considered choice of pipe materials for the design of sewers, collectors and pressure pipes for the discharge of dry weather flows and/or rainwater for the materials recorded in the standard specification list 250. The matrix consists of graphical matrices from which the fields of application can be read rapidly. There are also more extensive tables with references to standards, to the standard specification list 250 and to an elaborate series of technical characteristics.

Water directive for building and rebuilding

How should water be handled when building or rebuilding a house? This is the content of the renewed guide for architects. In it you find references to legislation and directives such as the provisions of Vlarem II with respect to rainwater, urban development regulations, the European general water directive, the decree for integral water policy, the water test and different codes of good practice. With reference to rainwater, the duty to separate sewer water is pointed out and an answer is given to the question how the builder/rebuilder can use, infiltrate or buffer the rainwater. As far as waste water is concerned, this is about collection and discharge, the septic tank, the individual waste water treatment and some practical advice for the design and installation of the house sewer and the drinking water network.

Disconnection on private and public properties: realisations of the VLARIO working group practical disconnection of rainwater on private properties

To have an understanding on how disconnection is done in practice, an inquiry was set up among the disconnection experts. In 2009, 128 persons absolved the training of disconnection advisor. 100 of them were engaged in the inquiry. Half of them are actually following this profession. The following issues were raised in order of importance:

The acquiring of the necessary documents, e.g. because of unfamiliarity with the existing situation, the multitude of the parties concerned
The explanation and defence of a proposal with people regularly refusing because of unfamiliarity, negativism, high costs, nuisance.
The first discussion with the proprietor, e.g. because of difficult reachability and reserves of the citizen
The follow-up of the works
The development of a technical proposal
The information meeting
The management
The discussions after the execution of the works.

Practice experience of a disconnection advisor

The commissioners are supplied with a number of points for attention based on practice experience. It is of great importance that a sound information meeting is organized. The disconnection advisor must receive an easy-reference brochure that guarantees that he is well informed about the project. Changes shall be reported to him and advice must be started in time. Based on a practical example, which is representative for the largest part of Flanders, cost units have been deduced. It is important that supplementary works are costed separately.

The average constructor’s price for a disconnection is € 1326 incl. of 6 % VAT. In case of a do-it-yourself solution, this is € 401 incl. of 21% BTW. A follow-up control of the 61 housings from this project shows that only one of them was not entirely sufficient. No one of the proprietors did actually need the estimated amount and 81% of the proprietors have executed the works themselves.

Private sewer control: How is this done in practice?

Like for other utility facilities (such as natural gas, electricity, etc.) the authorities oblige that private sewers of houses will have to be inspected soon (expectedly from 1 July 2011 on). This inspection will establish whether the drainage system on your property does comply with the applicable regulations. Lots of money is invested for water purification. This is a process that starts from the draining point on. Therefore, it is of major importance that every sewer is connected correctly. In the case of newly built houses we see that 1 out of 2 are not. What we often see is that defective connections were made and that, as a consequence, waste water and rainwater are not drained separately.

The inspection will be compulsory in four cases:

For newly constructed sewers
In case of important changes
After determination of a violation of the uniformity, on the sewer manager’s request
In the case of installation of a separate sewer system on public property, involving the obligation to disconnect on private property (according to the Vlarem II legislation)

For a new-construction house, an architect draws up a sewer plan, taking into account the regulations to which the building lot is subject according to its location. The contractor, who is possibly working under the architect’s surveillance, executes the works according to the plan and in an approved manner. For the commissioner, it is of greatest interest that the drainage system is installed correctly as it will have to function correctly several decades long. The installation of the private sewers and the disconnection of rainwater must both be done with sufficient knowhow.

VLARIO composed a training programme to become a private sewer surveyor, in which theory as well as practical matters are treated. For the moment there are almost 100 surveyors who received the certificate “Surveyor of private sewers” of VLARIO. This list of recognized surveyors can be consulted on the VLARIO website.

Administration and maintenance of sewers: why, how and when?

Seven years ago, the first version of the Code of good practice was made up. This document has now been updated and it is being verified how this document will fit in in the existing legislation. The legal argument for the management and maintenance of public sewers and collectors can be found in the circular letter LNE of February 2009. It states that “every sewer manager has the management duty to maintain sewers, pumping stations and peripheral installations according to the best available techniques, in order to limit the disadvantageous influences on surface waters as much as possible.” The explanation to the update of the code of good practice of sewer installation of 2004, clearly put forward that a good design plan must also be focussed on good maintenance end must evaluate all critical points, make a risk assessment (nature and frequency of critical situations), provide a surveillance plan and an action plan in case of problems. CIW requested VLARIO to supply the aspects of good management for the update of the code of good practice. A rational argument of practice maintenance and administration can be deduced from the study of ““British gas” that investigated when Murphy’s Law applies. This seems to be the case when it’s a matter of urgency, high interests, high complexity, competences, deterioration and frequency. Those are the aspects that can be well applied on sewers. The speaker illustrated this with a failure taken from practice. Besides, the revised NBN EN 752, exterior sewers, is more oriented towards integrated sewer management which involves the realization of performance objectives. These performance requirements are linked to the criticalness of a considered element having a social, economic and ecological impact in case of failure. This involves inspection with inventorying and structural and hydraulic research. Further it involves evaluation to establish whether the performance requirements are met, an assessment of the structural condition and the study of the ecological impact. Causes must be discovered. This should lead to an action plan in which solutions are considered. All this must then be executed (implementation) and a review plan must be made.

Working group 7 will therefore focus on the further evaluation of criticalness in order to define priorities and to formulate performance requirements. Maintenance schemes are a part of this process. For the less critical elements also, adapted schemes will have to be presented. Additionally, links will be made to the municipal indicator framework with reporting cycles, emergency procedures and calamity plans.