Failure of sewage disposal
Wastewater drainage systems are complex installations made up of three elements:
- Collection systems: These collect wastewater and rainwater, and include drainage systems and stormwater basins.
- Water treatment plants: purify water using chemical and biological processes.
- Discharge and sludge management: this includes the discharge of purified water and sludge management.
A failure in the wastewater drainage system can occur in one or more of these elements and lead to various types of damage. Failures are generally attributable to damaged or destroyed pipes or sewers, due to external factors.
Risks and causes
Consequences
What can you do?
There are no specific recommendations for this risk.
Check out our general advice to follow before, during, and after an emergency.
Impact and probability
The figures relating to probability and impact describe a extreme failure in wastewater management. The BNRA theoretically describes such a scenario as follows:
- Several municipalities and at least one large city are confronted with the total failure of their collection systems, water treatment plants and discharge facilities for several weeks.
How should you interpret these results?
Within the BNRA, experts assessed three scenarios for each risk: considerable, major or extreme. On each page, you will find the results of the scenario with the highest score based on the combination of likelihood and impact. This does not mean that this scenario will occur or is the most likely. Read more here about how to correctly interpret the results.
Probability
Weak
Human impact
Weak
Societal impact
Moderate
Environmental impact
Very weak
Financial impact
Moderate
What do the authorities do?
In Belgium, the following services are responsible for wastewater management.
- Environment department (Flanders). Also consult the information of the Flanders Environment Agency
- Brussels Environment (Brussels)
- State of the Walloon Environment (Wallonia)