The Société wallonne des eaux
Acquaint yourself with a responsible and committed public service that is cares about customer satisfaction and respect for the environment.
They have been producing and distributing water of the highest quality to hundreds of thousands of citizens since 1986.
Mission
The strategy of the Société wallonne des eaux is based on a clear vision, a well defined mission and shared values.
The mission of the Société wallonne des eaux is to:
1. Produce drinking water
> Ensuring the long-term protection of the resource
The SWDE is committed to the protection of the water abstraction. It has proven skills and experience in the characterisation and management of water resources. It carries out research, activities and development projects with a view to reducing the risk of the pollution of the groundwater resources.
> Exploiting the resource in a rational way
The SWDE produces and treats water that is mainly found underground. It exploits the groundwater of the Walloon subsoil taking into account its availability. The SWDE also exploits and treats surface water, which is mainly stored in four dam reservoirs. Out of a concern for the rational use of the available potential, the SWDE explores and exploits new groundwater resources, including quarry pit water.
2. Distribute the drinking water
The SWDE ensures the continuous availability of drinking water throughout the system that it manages. It ensures the continuity of the supply. It supplies high quality water under pressure and in sufficient quantities to all of its private, public and industrial customers.
The SWDE has its own laboratory that plays an essential role in controlling the quality of the water. It ensures the conformity of the water distributed by carrying out multiple daily controls at all points of the system (from abstraction to the consumer's tap).
3. Designing suitable water production and distribution infrastructure
To meet requirements in terms of technical infrastructure/buildings, the SWDE undertakes the design, the architecture and the supply of structures through its engineering department. Its projects can be very high-tech. The SWDE pays as much attention to the aesthetics of the structures as to their environmental and energy impacts.
4. Meet and anticipate customers' needs
The SWDE is committed to achieving optimal satisfaction among its customers. It raises the quality of the service offered in line with their increasing demands, while guaranteeing them the fairest price for the product supplied. It has implemented a policy for the continuous improvement of its processes that enables it to adhere as closely as possible to the demands of its customers and even anticipate them.
Hunger for history
The Société wallonne des eaux is a key public actor in the water sector in Wallonia. Since its creation, the SWDE has done its utmost to ensure an optimal service for its customers.
They have been at the service of municipalities and their inhabitants for over a century.
The first running water systems appeared in the middle of the 19th century. The infrastructure grew, cities began to have their own water service. To help municipalities that lacked resources, in 1913 the State created the SNDE (National Water Distribution Company).
The country gradually equipped itself with water distribution systems and production facilities (e.g. dams).
In 1986, the water policy was assigned to the regions. The SNDE was split into two sections. In Flanders, the VMW (Flemish Water Distribution Company) sees the light of day. In the south of the country, the Walloon Region created the Société wallonne des distributions d’eau (Walloon Water Distribution Company).
The name was shortened at the beginning of 2001. From then on, SWDE has stood for Société wallonne des eaux. This new name coincided with a change of status, which made the SWDE an autonomous public company. The company is bound by a management contract with the Region that is renewable on a periodic basis.
In 2006, a new decree confirmed the SWDE's federative role in the drinking water production and distribution sectors. It was also at this time that the role of local authorities was enhanced within the bodies of the SWDE.
2007 marked the start of the management contract that ran until 2012. During this period, the SWDE focused its attention on the rational use of water and customer service optimisation.
A new internal structure was put in place in 2010. It is based on three clusters of operational activities: production, distribution and the commercial service.
In 2012, the SWDE's Management Committee developed an ambitious business plan that foreshadowed the objectives and mission of the 2012-2016 management contract.
The Management Contract has been renewed in 2017 for the 2018-2022 period. The road is paved towards 6 major goals :
- Control the price of water
- Secure the supply
- To guarantee the quality of the water
- Provide optimal customer service
- Contribute to sustainable development
- Strengthen water governance
The SWDE is today Wallonia's largest drinking water production and distribution company. Its distribution system stretches over 40,000 km. It covers nearly 200 municipalities and has over one million connections. The SWDE supplies drinking water to nearly 2.4 million consumers, i.e. over 70% of the Walloon population.
