Waterleidingmaatschappij Limburg (WML), the water supply company operating in Limburg province in the Netherlands, has signed a €100 million finance contract with the European Investment Bank.
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WML will use the funding to carry out its 2023-2027 investment programme, which aims to rehabilitate and upgrade both the drinking water production facilities and the distribution network.
Smaller investments to upgrade and securitise ICT infrastructure will also be included in the financing programme.
The operation is expected to enhance the reliability and efficiency of WML’s water supply system, ensuring the security of supply of high-quality drinking water delivered to residents in the area.
WML will rehabilitate and upgrade both its distribution infrastructure and its production facilities.
On the distribution side, 17 km of new transport water mains and 50 km of new distribution supply network will be constructed, , and 485 km of distribution lines will be refurbished.
The financing is also earmarked for investments in pressure sensors along vulnerable distribution networks, to optimise the water efficiency performance over the whole supply system.
The investment is the second project between the EIB and WML, after an earlier loan signed in 1999, which helped WML switch from a dependency on groundwater extraction to the use of surface water.
On the production side, WML will carry out rehabilitation and new construction works at a number of production facilities and also optimise the destratification (by means of aerators) of De Lange Vlieter, a lake serving as a storage basin for drinking water production, and the renovation of DVR Landgraaf, a water storage reservoir. ■
An upper level high pressure system is expected to continue aiding well above average and potentially dangerous temperatures throughout the West into the first full weekend of September.