Operational experience with indirect potable reuse at the Flemish Coast

The Intermunicipal Water Company of the Veurne region (IWVA) reuses wastewater effluent for groundwater recharge of an unconfined dune aquifer since July 2002. The ‘Torreele’ reuse plant has a production capacity of 2,500,000 m3/y. Due to the sensitive environmental nature of the dune area, the quality of the infiltration water is subject to stringent standards. The combination of membrane filtration techniques proved capable of producing this quality and enabled a sustainable groundwater management of both dune water catchments owned by the IWVA.

Groundwater recharge, reusing wastewater effluent, enabled a substantial reduction of the natural groundwater extraction in the dune aquifers of the Flemish coastal plain at a reasonable Temperature (°C) recaptured water 1/01/2003 2/07/2003 recharged water 1/01/2004 2/07/2004 1/01/2005 2/07/2005 1/01/2006 Fig. 4. Variation of temperature in the recharged and recaptured water.