Grote Nete

The Grote Nete is a tributary of the Nete in the Scheldt basin. It has a length of 44 kilometers (some sources say 70 to 80 km) and is not navigable.

The Grote Nete rises northeast of Hechtel. From Lier it flows together with the Kleine Nete and forms the Nete or the Beneden Nete. For those who can't tell the two Netes apart: the Grote Nete is further south than the Kleine Nete.

The Grote Nete flows through the following municipalities: Meerhout, Balen, Geel-Oosterlo, past Laakdal, Westerlo, Herselt, Westmeerbeek, Hulshout, Booischot, Heist-op-den-Berg, Hallaar, Itegem, Herenthout, Berlaar, Kessel and Lier.

Its main tributaries are the Wimp, the Molse Nete and the Grote Laak. Via the Grote Laak, the Grote Nete also received a lot of pollution from Tessenderlo Chemie.

From 2013, Natuurpunt started to gradually develop a connected nature reserve "Grote Netewoud" in the source area of the Grote Nete.

Arise

Before the last ice age (Weichselien), the valley of the Grote Nete was not so strongly eroded. During the penultimate ice age (Saalien), the Grote Nete drained into the Dyle Valley via what is now the valley of the Laak[1]. During the last ice age, vegetation declined again and large-scale erosion occurred. The removed debris blocked the discharge to the Laak and the Grote Nete then started to flow into the valley of the Kleine Nete.

Eddy&Rita