2023-11-01 05:00:00
Safety is paramount, especially (and above all) when dealing with potentially dangerous places such as bridges, roads or waterways. However, not everything is as secure as we would like. This is the case for Isabelle, she contacted us via the orange button Alert Us to tell us regarding his problem.
Isabelle, a 54-year-old grandmother, has been worried for more than two months. In his commune of Berloz in the Province of Liège, usually quiet, appeared “a hole” which she considers to be “super dangerous”. “One day, I went for a walk with my dog and my neighbor’s children, and there, I was really shocked by what I discovered.“, she told us.
Along the stone path on which pedestrians, bicycles and horses coexist, a rectangular pool filled with water appeared. Nothing around indicates what it is, no barrier acts as protection. “For safety, there was just an orange plastic net that didn’t even stand up.“, she was offended. “I said to myself: “It’s the middle of July, the kids are riding their bikes, they’re having fun.” It’s a relatively quiet area and when I saw that, I said to myself: “No, but that’s not possible!”“.
©RTLinfo
“I was never contacted once more”
As luck would have it, Isabelle meets the Mayor of Berloz a few days later while she is shopping. Neither one nor two, the main person concerned seizes the opportunity and explains the problem to him. “She told me she didn’t know and she was going to see what was going on.“, she added, before explaining that in the end “nothing had been done“.
Faced with what she considers to be a blatant lack of security, our fifty-year-old ends up contacting the municipal administration: “I sent an email and the photos to the municipality, and I received an email stating that my request had been taken into account and that the works alderman was going to contact me once more. I was never contacted once more“.
Today, Isabelle can’t take it anymore and says she is scandalized: “Now it’s even more catastrophic than when I was in July. There are no safeguards, there is nothing at all! The icing on the cake is that on the other side of the hole, there is a red and white banner, but on the other side of the danger“.
©RTLinfo
The municipality reacts
Following our interview request, Béatrice Moureau, the Mayor of Berloz, enlightened us on the situation. This ditch is not there for nothing since it is in reality… A storm pool! According to her, she repeatedly demanded that Thomas&Piron, the company in charge of the work, secure the premises. This is how the orange tarpaulins were installed all around.
An ineffective system in Isabelle’s eyes: “For me, prudence is the mother of safety. All it takes is for an adult to pick up a branch or anything, it goes over their bike and they end up in the pond. And what, how is it collected? It’s super dangerous“.
What is a storm basin?
As a reminder, a storm basin (or cistern, depending on use and location) allows rainwater to be stored and then gradually released into the ground or into the drainage network. Why install such a system? Quite simply to regulate water flows during severe weather and thus avoid any flooding.
Currently, that of Berloz is still under construction, as are the new housing estates located nearby. It is therefore not a deliberately abandoned hole, but rather a basin which will soon have a particular purpose: that of absorbing and regulating rainwater.
The work must continue and soon result in a more secure final project. The Mayor told us: “I will always send the agents to check, but normally it will be put in order“. Reassuring news, but insufficient for Isabelle who still refuses to let her grandchildren play in the area.
Berloz storm basin construction site dangers
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