Rainwater disconnection grant

What is it?

Due to climate change, it is going to rain more often and harder. The sewer pipes cannot handle this volume of water. As a result, the sewers sometimes overflow and streets become flooded. The rain that falls on the roof of your house or shed now flows through the drainpipe into the sewer system. This is clean water and does not really belong in the sewer system. You can disconnect this water from the sewerage system and thus limit future flooding. The municipality of Leudal wants to encourage this and provides a financial contribution in the form of the 'Disconnection subsidy for rainwater'.

What is disconnection?

Disconnection is the separation of clean rainwater and dirty wastewater. In most places in Leudal there is now only one sewer pipe under the road. Both rainwater and wastewater end up there. Through this pipe, the water is immediately discharged to the sewage treatment plant (RWZI). If we disconnect, we will discharge less clean water to the treatment plants and relieve the sewer system.

What are the benefits of disconnecting?

• We prevent flooding in the streets, homes and gardens
• Your garden is less likely to dry out by infiltrating water where it falls
• You have the option of saving water (you collect the water and use it to water the garden, for example)

In addition, you are helping to improve the environment:

Surface water quality is improving. This is because there is less overflow of mixed water (clean and dirty).

This also has a positive impact on flora and fauna. Some plant and animal species are very sensitive to habitat and surface water quality.

How do I disconnect?

Connect the downspout to a rain barrel or rain column. Let the overflow pipe from the rain barrel drain into the garden, not into the sewer system, of course. Or use the rainwater to fill a pond. When the pond is full, it overflows into the garden.

Of course, you can also choose to infiltrate water directly into the soil. There are several ways to do this:

• 'Just run' on the grass or in the garden. Saw off the downspout and pipe it into the garden with a bend. This is where the water sinks into the ground.
• Use infiltration crates. Dig in the crates. Water flows into these and then slowly sinks into the soil.
• Use an infiltration pond. This is a hole in the ground without a liner. If necessary, put some gravel at the bottom. In this, the water can slowly sink into the ground. The pond will be dry if it does not rain for a long time.

The website www.waterklaar.nl provides more information about disconnection, what the Limburg water partners are already doing to prevent flooding and why we disconnect.