Tongeren-Borgloon (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – The Jeker River in Tongeren-Borgloon is being cleaned by the Flemish Environment Agency (VMM) due to silt buildup. Cleanup starts today, May 9, 2025 and lasts until end of June 2025, says Vanderwaeren.
As VRT News reported, the Jeker River in the Tongeren-Borgloon province of Limburg, Belgium, the park is getting cleaned. The Flemish Environment Agency is in charge of the work. They’re starting today, May 9, 2025, by drying out the river. On Monday, May 12, 2025, they will start removing the sludge.
They will push the sludge to certain spots. Then, a crane will lift the sludge out of the river. It will be put into trucks that won’t leak. The trucks will take the sludge to a special company to be disposed of properly. The cleaning will happen in stages. Officials mentioned that they will clean one part of the river at a time, ensuring a thorough and environmentally friendly cleanup.
“The Jeker has several branches running through the city. We can control them by raising certain weirs and then opening others. That way you lead the water around the city,”
Says Vanderwaeren.
Can Tongeren solve the smelly sludge problem in the Jeker river?
According to the officials, to help with the river work, there will be different routes for people to use. Pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers will be directed along these alternate paths. The city park might be closed sometimes for safety reasons. However, the city plans to keep the park open in the evenings and on weekends.
“We push it to a point,”
The engineer explains.
“There it is removed from the watercourse with a crane. Then it leaves on watertight trucks to a recognised processing company.”
Each part of the project will have its changes for traffic and access. People can find maps and schedules on the city’s website. The whole project is expected to last until the end of June 2025. The city and the VMM are working together to make sure everything goes well. They want to keep any inconvenience to the public to a minimum.
The Jeker river in Tongeren-Borgloon is facing a problem. Silt is accumulating in the city park. The water in this part of the river doesn’t flow quickly. This allows silt and sludge to settle and build up. An engineer from the Flemish Environment Agency says the Jeker naturally carries a lot of silt.
The slow water causes the silt to deposit in areas where the current is weak. This leads to a noticeable and smelly buildup. Over the past few years, this has become a bigger issue, especially when it’s dry. The stagnant sludge then starts to smell bad. Local residents and the city council have complained about the unpleasant smell and the ugly, muddy banks.
This issue comes 6 years after the Jeker was brought back to the city centre. It was part of a plan to improve the city. But there were problems during the river’s construction. The new riverbed wasn’t built wide enough in some spots.
The narrow part slows down the water, making silt build up more. Officials mentioned that these problems weren’t fully fixed before, and they’re now more obvious. The city and the Flemish Environment Agency are talking about solutions.
