Rainwater and wastewater separation grant
A grant for individuals separating rainwater from wastewater at existing residential buildings in Wevelgem where a separate street sewer is being installed or was installed before 7 May 2010.
Separate your existing private drains so rainwater and wastewater use different routes. This reduces peak loads on sewers during heavy rain.
For evidenced costs including VAT, the grant covers 80%, up to €2,000, when rainwater is connected to the public sewer. It covers 90%, up to €2,200, when no rainwater connection to the public sewer is made.
You can use a contractor or do the work yourself. If you carry out all the work yourself, support covers evidenced material purchases at the applicable rate, plus €150 for a terraced property or €450 for a semi-detached or detached property. The applicable €2,000 or €2,200 ceiling still applies.
The full standard inspection charge for the private drainage can be included, within the same total ceiling. Repeat inspections, late-inspection penalties and inspections initiated by De Watergroep are excluded.
Eligibility
- The existing private drainage must be in Wevelgem, in a street where a new separate sewer system is being installed or where one was installed before 7 May 2010. The building must contain at least one dwelling.
- Separating the drainage must not already have been imposed by a municipal, provincial or regional planning ordinance or permit.
- You must apply as an individual owner, holder of a legal right over the property, co-owner within a co-owners association (VME), or tenant. A tenant needs written consent from the owner or legal right-holder.
- Invoices must be in the individual's name, or the VME's name where applicable, without a business or VAT number related to the individual.
- Subsidies under this regulation are awarded only once per parcel, counting grants under previous or later disconnection regulations too.
Keep the separate drainage system in place. You may alter it only with an environmental permit; otherwise the subsidy will be recovered. Grants based on fraudulent applications will also be recovered, and prosecution remains possible. The municipality may refuse payment for applications that do not meet the purpose of the regulation.
How to apply
- Status
- Open continuously
- Round restrictions
- For applications from 1 August 2026. Submit the signed form and pre-work evidence before starting. Complete the final claim within six months after the council-set disconnection completion date.[^c6][^c8][^c9]
Before work starts, send the completed, signed disconnection form, a plan or sketch of the existing and future layout, and photographs of the existing situation to rioleringen@wevelgem.be, or to Dienst Openbare Infrastructuur en Mobiliteit – Rioleringen, Vanackerestraat 12, 8560 Wevelgem.
The form commits you to allow municipal inspectors onto the property during and after work, complete the work before or during connection to the street's separate sewer system, and complete the file afterwards.
After the work, add the technical information, including existing and designed layouts and a description with measurements; the drainage expert supplies these for a new street sewer. Include contractor invoices and/or material receipts plus a declaration if you did the work yourself. Supply a signed inspection report, with photographs, confirming that the private drainage complies. Send the completed file through the same email or postal route; the municipal executive approves it before payment.
Submit the final subsidy application no later than six months after the date set by the municipal executive for completing the disconnection. This deadline is tied to that official completion date. Applications submitted from 1 August 2026 are assessed under the new regulation.