On 17 July 2025, the Belgian Competition Authority granted its final approval for the creation of Waterunie Operator, a newly formed company that will consolidate the operational activities of Farys and De Watergroep under a single entity. Following a concentration filing registered under case MEDE‑CC‑24/0034, the Belgian Competition Authority granted its unconditional approval, concluding that the collaboration did not raise concerns relating to competition or consumer harm.
De Watergroep serves over 3.3 million people across 177 municipalities in Flanders and operates a drinking water network of more than 34,600 km. Farys supplies water and wastewater services to over 1 million people, primarily in East Flanders and the Brussels periphery. Its infrastructure includes several drinking water production centers and an extensive distribution and sewer network estimated at 10,000–15,000 km, based on the scale of its operations and the number of municipalities it serves.
Combined, the two entities operate in close to 200 municipalities and provide services to more than 4 million residents, making it one of Europe’s 20 largest water services providers and Belgium’s largest. The creation of Waterunie reflects deeper political alignments within Belgium’s federal system; a Flemish center-right coalition government was crucial to enable the merger.
