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Water collection, treatment and supply

Current registrations 134
Starters, 12 months 43.0 per 100 · Belgium 8.9
Bankruptcies, 12 months 17.5 per 1,000 registrations · Belgium 6.2
Employment (FTE) 7,58726 employers · latest accounts
Median age 21.8 yearsBelgium 8.1 years
E-invoicing via Peppol 92.5%124 of 134 companies in the Peppol Directory · Belgium 85.0%

Filed accounts

NACE 36000 · financial year 2025 · 67 filed annual accounts
Median solvency
52.6%
division 52.6% · Belgium 46.1%
Median net result
€42,144
division €42,144 · Belgium €16,492
Median equity
€438,151
division €438,151 · Belgium €98,323
Loss-making
22.4%
division 22.4% · Belgium 26.7%
Negative equity
7.5%
division 7.5% · Belgium 12.4%
Median return on equity
10.2%
division 10.2% · Belgium 15.9%
Median liquidity
1.42
division 1.42 · Belgium 1.66
Filed late
24.6%
financial year 2024, 69 filings · Belgium 38.4%
Missing or 90 days late
6.8%
of 73 companies with annual accounts · division 6.8% · Belgium 5.4%
Per financial year202020212022202320242025
Median solvency 41.1%45.1%51.2%51.0%46.3%52.6%
Median net result €57,337€27,961€31,712€33,091€21,919€42,144

Hold your customer's or competitor's figures against them in the Sector benchmark

Bankruptcies

Bankruptcies, 5 years, still registered
1
0.75% of the registrations · Belgium 1.68%
Running bankruptcies
1
7.5 per 1,000 registrations

Recent bankruptcies

Date Company
25-02-2026 AQUA-BELGIAN RENEWABLE ENERGY GROUP
BE 0788.551.107

Every bankruptcy in division 36, last 90 days

Spread across the country

by region and province · 127 of 134 enterprises with a registered office on file · a sole trader has no published seat
  • Flanders 71 · 55.9%
  • Wallonia 41 · 32.3%
  • Brussels 9 · 7.1%
  • Abroad 6 · 4.7%
fewer moremax 22

Largest employers

NACE 36000 as first main activity · staff from the latest accounts
  1. 1 Vlaamse Maatschappij voor WatervoorzieningSchaerbeek 1,592 FTEfinancial year 2025
  2. 2 SOCIETE WALLONNE DES EAUXVerviers 1,318 FTEfinancial year 2025
  3. 3 VIVAQUABrussels 1,260 FTEfinancial year 2025
  4. 4 FarysGhent 974 FTEfinancial year 2025
  5. 5 PidpaGrobbendonk 716 FTEfinancial year 2025

Joint committees

from the latest accounts of 17 companies
  • 200 Auxiliary committee for white-collar workers 8
  • 209 White-collar workers in metal manufacturing 3
  • 124 Construction 2
  • 100 Auxiliary committee for blue-collar workers 1
  • 111 Metal, mechanical and electrical engineering 1
  • 149.01 Electricians: installation and distribution 1
  • 149.04 Metal trade 1
  • 207 White-collar workers in the chemical industry 1
Show the 1 others
  • 226 White-collar workers in international trade, transport and logistics 1

Source: the annual accounts at the National Bank. One filing can name more than one committee.

Division 36: Water collection and supply

Staff cost per FTE in NACE division 36

25 employers
Median
€93,100
Belgium €61,400
Middle half
€79,400 to €106,900
half of the employers lie between
Place among sectors
4 of 78
sectors with a median staff cost per FTE, highest first

Foreign control in NACE division 36

92 registered companies

Subsidies in this sector

per register · legal entities with an enterprise number
  • Flemish subsidies €827.9m awarded 21 recipients · 2022 to 2025 · largest: Algemene werkingstoelage aan de exploitanten van een openbaar waterdistributienetwerk
  • Wallonia-Brussels Federation €1,030 paid 1 recipient · 2023 · largest: Subventions pour l'achat de matériel sportif par les administrations communales et provinciales
  • Federal transfers 57,299 amount as published 1 recipient · 2023 to 2025 · largest: Toelage aan de provincies, gemeenten en intercommunales voor de door het Rijk ten behoeve van de uitvoering van openbare werken bevolen verplaatsing van gas- en elektriciteitsinstallaties en rioleringen.
  • EU budget €2.8m attributed share 6 recipients · 2021 to 2025 · largest: Linked to buildings
  • EU research €4.4m EU contribution 8 recipients · 2011 to 2026 · largest: Horizon 2020

Explore every recipient in this sector

Insights on Water collection, treatment and supply

Balance sheet and result. The median net result of €42,144 is above Belgium's €16,492. 7.5% of the annual accounts show negative equity, against 12.4% in Belgium. Return on equity of 10.2% is below Belgium's 15.9%.

Bankruptcies. The median bankruptcy probability of 0.3% is above Belgium's 0.2%.

Inflow and structure. Half of the companies are younger than 21.8 years, against 8.1 years in Belgium. 5.2% of the companies are sole traders, against 41.6% in Belgium. Wallonia holds 33.9% of the seats, against 22.7% in Belgium.

Staff and filing. 24.6% of the financial year 2024 accounts were filed late, against 38.4% in Belgium. The 5 largest employers hold 5,860 of the 7,587 FTE: 77.2%.

Direction. Median solvency rose from 41.1% in financial year 2020 to 52.6% in financial year 2025. The median net result fell from €57,337 in financial year 2020 to €42,144 in financial year 2025.

The comparison with Belgium as a whole and with the other divisions is as of 10-11-2026 05:30.

Method and sources

Every company registered today counts under its main activities in the KBO. Establishment units do not count. Staff counts once, under the employer's first main activity, from its latest accounts and only where it fits the staff costs. The count follows the NACE 2025 classification, the version in which code 36000 exists.

The bankruptcies over five years count only companies still registered today, because the activity of a company that left the register is not kept. So they are fewer than the bankruptcies of those years, and the figure is not a probability for the future. Over twelve months the count is nearly complete, because a bankrupt company stays registered while its bankruptcy runs. A company with more than one main activity counts in each of those sectors.

The comparison with Belgium as a whole and with the other NACE divisions rests on an overview of every division, counted again each night. Each division is counted in the version of the NACE classification in which it exists. A standing such as "more than in 80%" compares with the other divisions that have the figure. A division's bankruptcy probability is the median over its companies with a score. Belgium here counts the 1,276,421 companies with a main activity, because only those belong to a division. The other 699,557 registrations publish no activity.

Each median is the value of the middle company, computed over the annual accounts of financial year 2025, and is shown only from 30 accounts. A share (loss-making, negative equity) counts that year's accounts with that trait. Accounts are late when they are filed after the statutory deadline. The direction per financial year follows the companies still registered today. Missing or 90 days late counts the companies with accounts missing today, or whose latest were filed more than 90 days after the deadline. The dossier follows the same rule.