Sustainable water management
Water plays an essential role in our lives and in the environment. It is an important resource on, above and below the surface of our planet. Fresh water is continuously available all over the world through the hydrological cycle.
Unfortunately, climate change and human activities are disrupting this cycle. Around the world, water stress is arising due to problems like flooding, low water quality and water scarcity.
Umicore Water Stewardship Program
Although water stress is a global problem, the risks associated with it can vary from location to location. Several Umicore sites are in areas with water stress. Through the Water Stewardship Program, Umicore looks at each site to see how they can limit the risks associated with the availability and rising costs of water. We focus our efforts where they are needed first, including Hoboken.
Circular water use in Hoboken
Umicore in Hoboken purifies 9,000 m³ of waste and rainwater from small amounts of metals every day in its unique facilities. This is almost four Olympic swimming pools full. About 65% of this is reused onsite for process cooling or spraying and misting to prevent dust from blowing up, and other uses. The site is also kept wet every day. This is done by sprinkler trucks and automatic sprinkler systems on both the streets of the site and in and around warehouses. We collect the water for irrigation in our internal sewer system to purify it again for reuse.
The company site in Hoboken is kept wet every day. This is done by sprinkler trucks and automatic sprinkler systems on both the streets of the site and in and around warehouses. We collect the water for the irrigations in our internal sewer system to purify it again for reuse.
Physicochemical and biological water treatment
Our water purification technology is unique. We go beyond European regulations that require the non-ferrous metals industry to use the “Best Available Technology” (BTT). Our site in Hoboken applies physicochemical purification and purification by living matter of microorganisms.
With our physicochemical process, we purify metal particles smaller than a molecule from our wastewater. In addition, bacteria further remove metals to very low levels. This makes our water treatment plant one of the best in the non-ferrous industry in Europe.
Buffer capacity for extreme rainfall
We collect rainwater in two tanks with a total buffer capacity of 30,000 m³. However, in the event of extreme rainfall, which happens about one to five times a year,this storage is insufficient. To prevent flooding, a 2,000 m³ buffer basin was put into use at the end of 2022 near the green zone on the site. In the event of extreme rainfall, the basin fills with the excess water from the sewage system and the drainage system. That water is then drained to our water treatment plant in a controlled manner.
To prevent untreated water from flowing into the Scheldt in the event of extreme rainfall, we have constructed an additional buffer basin of 250 m³ in 2025. Both buffer basins work together.