Nicolas Dewitte (Chastre Avenir, opposition) took advantage of the presentation of the Dyle-Gette River Contract, during the municipal council on Tuesday evening, to challenge the majority on a problem that has persisted for years: “Didn’t they (the River Contract) send you a letter regarding what the Commune dumps in the river? I have already mentioned the problem in a previous session. The waste from the sweeper, which contains hydrocarbons, is discharged directly into the river…”
After several questions, it turns out that the waste collected by the sweeper is dumped into a large hole, dug five or six meters from the river, next to the town hall. At the bottom of the hole, a pipe. “But where does this pipe lead? No one really knows“, acknowledged Jean-Marie Thiry (Ecolo), alderman for the Environment and Waste. For Nicolas Dewitte, the proximity to the river represents a risk: when the sweeper is emptied, everything ends up in the hole and then into the river.
What is denounced by the elected official is in fact well known to the majority. “It goes back to the river because our site is not developed, indicated the mayor, Thierry Champagne (Chastre 20+). To build it, you need a permit. There is no solution at the moment. I have been asking the inBW intermunicipal company for ten years to find a solution, it is looking for it but cannot find one.”
In other words, it is not just the responsibility of the current coalition, but of the previous one as well. “Discard this waste 10 or 20 meters further from the river” advised Nicolas Dewitte.
“We are aware of the problem”
For the mayor, without this hole, the waste water would go into the drains and therefore also into the river. He said that an investigation would be conducted to see where this famous pipe leads.
“We are aware of the problemadded Alderman Jean-Marie Thiry. It’s been like this for years, maybe 40 years. You can’t do what you want on a classified site. We are making progress. In the meantime, the problem is still relevant: all municipalities have cleaning sludge and there is no real solution. The only possibility is to send them to a center in Flanders. It’s the only place.”
What the mayor confirmed, before relativizing: “Our cleaning sludge is less hydrocarbon because we do not work on highways. I am not saying that nothing should be done. The problem is that we have to relocate the technical department. At the time, the entire site of the Castillon farm was classified, even though it would have been necessary first to obtain an environmental permit. Because right now, we don’t even have one.” An observation that puts the elected officials in the embarrassment. “The Municipality of Chastre does not lead by example, but we are trying to find a solution.”
The technical service should normally move “shortly“. A site would have been found but the mayor indicated on Tuesday that he might not yet publicly announce which site it is.
