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As
a producer of drinking water, the IECBW operates the public
service water supply in nine local authority areas in
the Province of Brabant Wallon (Belgium): Braine l'Alleud,
Braine le Château (section de Wauthier Braine),
Court Saint Etienne, Genappe, Lasne, Mont Saint Guibert,
Ottignies LLN, Rixensart (Genval sector) and Waterloo.
The IECBW produces 2.7 million cubic metres of the water
it needs each year. The balance of its requirements, some
6.15 million cubic metres, it buys from other Walloon
producers, 93% from CIBE, 6.5% from IEVT, and 0.5% from
SWDE.
The IECBW manages 15 wells, 4 water collection galleries,
3 water towers, 14 storage reservoirs (including 2 of
vitrified steel), 12 pumping stations, 70 kilometres of
main line aqueducts, and 12 stand-by water supply sources.
Most of the company’s water extraction points exploit
the Brussels sand basin. However, 2 wells tap the Dyle
cretaceous water table and 5 wells are bored right into
the Palaeozoic stratum. All the IECBW extraction points
are remotely managed.
IECBW uses three installations to remove excess iron
and manganese from its water supply. These installations
can also correct the pH balance if necessary. The purification
process is continued with either single or double filtering
through sand beds. Water is sterilised through a procedure
exposing it to ultraviolet radiation in those installations
where filtration time is limited. In other sites a hypo-chlorine
sodium solution is added to the water.
The IECBW water supply network includes 1,242 kilometres
of water mains with 48.,24 connected clients. About 500
new domestic connections are added to the system each
year. Every year about 1.000 connections (2%) are replaced,
as are 20 kilometres of mains (1.5%). IECBW supplies an
average of 24.000 cubic metres of water every day, with
demand peaks reaching 32,000 cubic metres.
The location of leaks is a major task for IECBW, with
some personnel working full-time on this task. The company
has a vehicle specially equipped for this operation with
several high precision pieces of equipment including an
acoustic correlator. We have managed to reduce wastage
through leaks in our supply network by 17%.
To learn more about IECBW, we invite you to visit our
Website - in the company of our mascot “Blouby”.
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