Covering of The Senne - Diversion and Treatment

Diversion and Treatment

Although the original covering of the Senne resolved sanitary problems and flooding in Brussels’ old city, this was not the case in peripheral areas. The Senne was still very polluted, despite work done to the sewers and spillways in the canal. The drainage into the canal was not able to completely stop the floods that regularly affected certain outer areas of the city.

In 1930, a group was created whose objective was to channel the Senne into subterranean tunnels for nearly its entire course through the Brussels metropolitan area. This was done in order to expand the benefits that the covering achieved in the old city. In the centre, the course of the river was to be changed from the central boulevards to the peripheral boulevards of the small ring. The project, delayed by war and the work being done on the North–South connection, was only finished in 1955.

The disused channels of the central boulevards later facilitated the construction of the north-south line of the premetro, which opened in 1976. The conversion of the existing tunnels to metro tunnels ensured that there was minimal disruption on the surface. Some of the former pipes also served as storm drains. The Anspach Fountain was transferred to the Quartier des Quais/Kaaien.

Actual purification of the waste water from the Brussels-Capital Region was not completed until the 21st century, when two purification stations were built. The south station treats refuse water from 360,000 inhabitants, which is about one third of the polluted water, and lies on the border of Anderlecht and Forest. The north station, completed in March 2007, is located near the border of the Brussels-Capital Region, between the Senne and the Charleroi-Willebroek Canal, near Buda Bridge. A portion of the cost was footed by the Flemish Government, as 7 of the adjacent municipalities lie within the Flemish Region. This station is capable of treating the water of 1,100,000 inhabitants and should finally be capable of fully purifying the Senne, which had long caused much of the pollution of the Scheldt river.