Dozens of families in the West Flemish village of Ruiselede were unable to use their bathrooms or go to the toilet sue to a mistake by a builder. The builder had been asked by the municipal authorities to fill in a disused sewer pipe. However, he filled the wrong pipe with concrete leave families on the Aalterstraat unable to use their loos.
Dozens of families unable to use their toilets after builder fills the wrong sewer pipe with concrete
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The Alderman responsible for public works in Wingene, of which Ruiselede is a part, Jens Danneels (Christian democrat) told VRT News that “We asked the builder to fill the old sewer pipe up with concrete to prevent a sinkhole possibly occurring in the future.
There was a mistake and concrete was mistakenly poured into a sewer pipe that is still in use. This meant that the sewer was blocked with concrete.
Temporary pumps
Arno Morsa of the company in charge of managing the sewers Farys told VRT News that " As a result, wastewater from toilets and showers couldn’t drain away. That’s a real nuisance, as it leads to blockages. We sprang into action straight away to find a solution. In the meantime, we’ve managed to pump the wastewater from the houses into a different sewer system."
For one couple, this didn’t suffice. “We had to install a separate pumping system there so that they could use their toilet. The wastewater from the families connected to the sewer system further upstream wasn’t draining away either. A large pump was installed for them too, to transfer the water elsewhere.”
The concrete will have to be removed from the sewer system. “In order to do this, Farys is using a machine that travels through the sewer system to break up the concrete bit by bit. There is concrete covering a stretch of 70 metres. However, a machine like this can only clear 1 or 2 metres a day. So, it will still be weeks before we’re finished.”