Soft water projects

Home
Drinking water

Soft water projects

De Watergroep is working towards softer water

In some areas, drinking water is naturally ‘hard’, meaning it contains high levels of minerals. Even though hard water is perfectly drinkable, it can cause limescale deposits on pipework and taps — which is why De Watergroep is building multiple water softening installations. 

“To us, comfortable soft water means water that leaves little or no limescale deposits”, Head of Asset Management and Process Technology Gisèle Peleman says. “Hard and soft water are both perfectly suitable for drinking, but soft water unquestionably offers more benefits than hard water. Soft water causes less limescale deposits, for example, meaning household appliances last longer. Customers also use less laundry products in soft water areas. Consequently, we’ve decided to assess whether a centralised partial softening plant could be a useful additional step in the construction of new installations and the renovation of existing ones. Over the coming years, we intend to build multiple water softening plants across the whole of our catchment area.”

introductie foto De Watergroep is working towards softer water

New water production centre in Eeklo supplies soft water

The old water production centre in Eeklo was due an overhaul. In 2015, De Watergroep started the construction of a new production centre with a centralised partial softening plant.

Previously, fairly hard water was the norm in Eeklo and its surroundings. Since the opening of the new water production centre in 2019, water from the area is being partially softened, and Eeklo’s residents get softer water supplied into their homes. This offers a whole range of benefits:

  • as fewer limescale deposits occur, taps and sinks are easier to clean. Coffee machines and other household appliances also need to be descaled less often.
  • Softer water means less washing powder needs to go in the washing machine, and laundry comes out feeling softer and looking brighter.
  • The environment also stands to gain: customers use fewer laundry and cleaning products and waste is reduced as appliances last longer! 

Softer water for Sint-Joris-Weert

Since 2019, the inhabitants of Sint-Joris-Weert can enjoy soft water straight from their taps. A new ‘booster’ — a type of pumping plant — is bringing soft water from the water production centre in Haasrode to Sint-Joris-Weert.

Drinking water in Sint-Joris-Weert has had a high limescale content for many years. However, constructing an entirely new water production centre would have been an expensive and time-consuming process. Consequently, De Watergroep decided to pump soft water from Haasrode to the village in Flemish Brabant using a booster (a type of pumping plant). The new water supply is already resulting in fewer limescale issues. 

function swipedetect(el, callback){ var touchsurface = el, swipedir, startX, startY, distX, distY, threshold = 200, //required min distance traveled to be considered swipe restraint = 100, // maximum distance allowed at the same time in perpendicular direction allowedTime = 300, // maximum time allowed to travel that distance elapsedTime, startTime, handleswipe = callback || function(swipedir){} touchsurface.addEventListener('touchstart', function(e){ var touchobj = e.changedTouches[0] swipedir = 'none' dist = 0 startX = touchobj.pageX startY = touchobj.pageY startTime = new Date().getTime() // record time when finger first makes contact with surface e.preventDefault() }, false) touchsurface.addEventListener('touchmove', function(e){ e.preventDefault() // prevent scrolling when inside DIV }, false) touchsurface.addEventListener('touchend', function(e){ var touchobj = e.changedTouches[0] distX = touchobj.pageX - startX // get horizontal dist traveled by finger while in contact with surface distY = touchobj.pageY - startY // get vertical dist traveled by finger while in contact with surface elapsedTime = new Date().getTime() - startTime // get time elapsed if (elapsedTime <= allowedTime){ // first condition for awipe met if (Math.abs(distX) >= threshold && Math.abs(distY) <= restraint){ // 2nd condition for horizontal swipe met swipedir = (distX < 0)? 'left' : 'right' // if dist traveled is negative, it indicates left swipe } else if (Math.abs(distY) >= threshold && Math.abs(distX) <= restraint){ // 2nd condition for vertical swipe met swipedir = (distY < 0)? 'up' : 'down' // if dist traveled is negative, it indicates up swipe } } handleswipe(swipedir) e.preventDefault() }, false) } window.addEventListener('load', function(){ var el = document.getElementById('prevnextbar') var nextpage = document.getElementById('nextpage') var prevpage = document.getElementById('prevpage') swipedetect(el, function(swipedir){ if (swipedir != 'right'){ prevpage.click() } if (swipedir != 'left'){ nextpage.click() } }) }, false)